K Shriniwas Rao/TNN
 
Mumbai, Dec 11: After much dilly-dallying, the prospect of seeing Pakistan cricketers play in the third edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) may finally be bright, but there hardly seem to be any takers, as far as franchisees are concerned.

After the Indian home ministry’s decision came on Wednesday saying four Pakistan cricketers - Sohail Tanvir, Misbah-ul Haq, Umar Gul and Kamran Akmal - would be given cricket visas for the tournament starting March next year, their participation in IPL 3 now depends on whether the franchisees express interest in bidding for them.

The third auction of IPL will be held on January 19 and to participate in it, the Pakistan cricketers will have to make themselves available once again by January 1. Thereafter, they will be allowed to go into the final pool for bidding. For that to happen, the franchisees have to express interest in buying them in the first place. According to reports coming in on Thursday, even all-rounder Shahid Afridi was said to have been given the clearance.

‘‘We are already midway with our plans for the 2010 IPL. The camps are about to start, the core team is in place and we’ve already hired the needed experts to look at the possible requirements. Until now, there was so much ambiguity on Pakistan cricketers that they naturally weren’t in our scheme of things," says a franchise official.

Only three of the eight IPL franchisees didn’t bid for any of the Pakistan players in the first year of IPL, in 2008. The rest five played the 2009 edition of the tournament without the services of players from across the border and were indeed preparing to do it again this time around. On Thursday, IPL commissioner Lalit Modi was emphatic when he claimed that ‘‘things are moving towards normalcy and a final decision will be taken on December 17, as far as involvement of Pak players is concerned."

The decision will be in regards to how these players can go through an auction slated for January 19 in Mumbai. The four cricketers cannot play for their original IPL teams that had signed them in the inaugural year. Following the November 26 attacks in Mumbai, after which Pakistan cricketers touring India was not possible, the IPL franchisees had terminated their contracts with these cricketers.

However, now that the situation seems to be back to normal, the players may make it to the auction window, but only after franchisees show interest.