BANGALORE, May 1: The Indian Premier League (IPL) is yet to finalise its position on barring Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar from playing in the inaugural season of the tournament.

The IPL is waiting for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to forward the court papers that upheld Shoaib’s five-year ban on Wednesday, and is also considering a personal request from the PCB Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf, to let Shoaib play in the Twenty20 event, I.S. Bindra, a member of the IPL governing council, said.

“We are yet to finalise our position because we will first have to examine what the court papers relating to the ban says,” Bindra said.

“We can arrive at a decision only after that. There is no time limit to this as the PCB has to obtain these papers first, and then forward them to the IPL.”

Bindra added that the IPL was seriously “considering a personal request” from Dr Nasim to let Shoaib play so that he could “earn his livelihood”.

Shoaib was signed up by Kolkata Knight Riders for $425,000 but was barred from appearing in the tournament by the IPL council in the interests of international discipline after the PCB banned him on disciplinary grounds last month.

On Wednesday, a three-member appellate tribunal upheld the ban.

Minutes after the tribunal announced its decision, an IPL spokesperson had said that their position on barring the player from the tournament remained the same, but Bindra suggested on Thursday that the PCB chief’s request has prompted a rethink.

A Kolkata spokesperson said that the franchise would abide by whatever decision the IPL council took on the issue but would “obviously be pleased” if Shoaib was cleared to play.

Meanwhile, an IPL official said Shoaib would not be allowed to play in the league despite being cleared to do so by his country’s cricket authorities.

Shoaib had been banned by the PCB for five years on charges of indiscipline, but a PCB panel confirmed on Wednesday that he was free to play outside the country.

However, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Vice-president Rajeev Shulka said it would maintain its stance of not employing any player banned by his national body.

“There’s no going back on our earlier stance, there’s no question of a rethink on the matter,” Shulka was quoted as saying on Thursday by Indian Express.

—Agencies