Friday saw an announcement coming from Pakistan sports minister Aftab Jilani that the ministry has no objection to its cricketers competing in the Indian Premier League.

Jilani said, "We feel it's a private league in which Pakistani players compete in an individual capacity."

It was confirmed by the sports minister that President Asif Ali Zardari, patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board, had asked the opinion of the ministry on players' participation in this year's IPL, a highly profitable twenty20 tournament that commences 10th April.

Jilani confirmed, "We have replied to the presidency on this issue and now it's up to the players and the PCB."

The last year's IPL saw the participation of all the leading Pakistan players including Shoaib Malik, Sohail Tanvir, Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif and Kamran Akmal.

It would be worth mentioning here the Pakistan government denied permission for its men's field hockey team to play in a four-nation tournament in India earlier this month due to terrorist attacks in Mumbai in which at least 164 people were killed.