The decision was taken at the BCCI's working committee meeting in Chennai today, where it was also decided to distribute approx $13m to ex-Indian players, set up a BCCI anti-corruption unit, and set up matches between IPL teams and Associate/Affiliate countries.
Srinivasan said the matter of Pakistan's participation in the CLT20 had already come up in the tournament's governing council. "The Working Committee has decided to invite a team from Pakistan to play in Champions League Twenty20 to be held in October," Srinivasan said after the working committee meeting. "CLT20 is owned by BCCI, Cricket Australia, and Cricket South Africa. So we will recommend to the Governing Council that the BCCI has no objection and is prepared to invite a Pakistan team in the Champions League.
"CLT20 will be played in India. As far as inviting a Pakistani team is concerned, it will be done by the Governing Council. The BCCI will make the recommendation to the Governing Council which will decide on the matter. This matter came up in the Governing Council of the Champions League. There was discussion around the composition of the tournament this year and on the number of teams and who will be invited. A feeling was expressed that a team from Pakistan could be invited."
The PCB had been pushing for the inclusion of sides from Pakistan, the only major Test-playing nation to not have had teams in either the qualifiers or the main round of the tournament since its inception in 2009.
Rajiv Shukla, the BCCI vice-president and a minister in the Indian federal government, said there was no interference or green signal from the government. "Though PCB were asking us from the last three years, we did not consider that," Shukla said. "But now we felt it was good time to invite them and have acceded to the PCB request."
It is understood that it was Srinivasan who proposed the matter during the discussion. Everyone felt that the political climate was conducive for a team from Pakistan to come and play and the working committee members accepted the proposal unanimously.
The Champions League is played between domestic T20 winners from various countries. Sialkot Stallions are the current Pakistan domestic T20 champions. The Sialkot Regional Cricket Association had requested the PCB last month to make efforts to enable the participation of Sialkot in the Champions League. The PCB, in turn, had said that Sialkot's participation was dependent on the restoration of bilateral ties between India and Pakistan.
Sialkot were invited to the inaugural edition of the tournament towards the end of 2008, but it was postponed after the terror attacks in Mumbai in November that year. The fall-out of those attacks strained the political relationship between India and Pakistan, and consequently, the cricketing one between the BCCI and the PCB.
Pakistan players are currently excluded from the Indian Premier League as well. Shukla, also the IPL chairman, had said last month that their participation was also dependent on the resumption of India-Pakistan cricket ties.
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