NEW DELHI, Dec 31: Participation of Lahore Badshahs outfit in the next season of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) remains unclear, given the current state of Pakistan-India ties, and the league officials are contemplating a format without the team from Pakistan.

Kiran More, a member of the ICL executive board, said the prevailing situation between Pakistan and India does not guarantee the participation of Lahore Badshahs (in the ICL contests) and the players had been made aware of the circumstances.

“It [Lahore Badshahs’s participation] is not favourable at the moment and that is what we have discussed with the Pakistan players,” More, a former Indian wicket-keeper, said.

He added Moin Khan, Lahore Badshahs coach, asked for an update on their participation in ICL’s next season, and was told that conditions were not favourable. “I told him [Moin] this is nothing new as things have been stalled in the past in similar situations,” More stated.

Things will get clearer, he said, when ICL executive board meets in Mumbai on Jan 5-6 to chalk out plans for the new season.“Himanshu Mody, Kapil Dev and other top officials, will discuss a change in the format where we can think of continuing with the World Series even in the absence of [Lahore] Badshahs,” said More.

On outcome of the internal review process for the second season, More said the members mainly discussed the state of cricket played and new features that could be added to enhance the quality of games and players.

“We will be looking at some young international faces, not necessarily players who have represented their country. We also want to hold more games including more 50-overs tournaments at Under-15 level.”

He denied the ICL were facing challenge to find more venues with the BCCI warning state associations, and said two new grounds were likely to be added to the existing venues.

“Lucknow is very keen to host the ICL as there are a lot of Uttar Pradesh players [in the league]. Vishakapatnam is the other venue likely to feature in the next season,” he revealed.

—Agencies