SRK bats for Shoaib Akhtar

The ill fortunes aren’t going to leave mercurial Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar’s fate as the latest jolt to smack him is that he wouldn’t be able to play in the highly lucrative upcoming IPL as well till the time the ban laid down on him by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is lifted.

The revelation by the IPL governing council came as a surprise to everyone since he was banned from playing international cricket and moreover PCB permitted the pacer to play both in County cricket and IPL.

Earlier on Thursday, IPL's Governing Council Chairman, Lalit Modi, told mediapersons that the pacer couldn’t take part in the high-profile Twenty20 competition, commencing from April 18, till the PCB lifts the ban on him.

"A range of discussion on him has taken place. The Governing Council’s decision was quite clear that Akhtar has been banned for a period of five years, he has appealed... and till the time he is cleared, the Governing Council won’t allow Akhtar from playing in the IPL," Modi said.

Shahrukh Khan firmly stood by Akhtar in this testing time of his as he clearly said "I will talk to the Board about their proposed move. I want to be acquainted with the reason behind such a big decision and I will try to see what best I can do further."

"Shoaib is barred from playing international cricket and IPL is not international. So, I don't know why he cannot play in the league. Shoaib is very important for the team and I will talk to the officials," SRK added.

Shahrukh Khan's statement came a few hours after IPL's Commissioner Lalit Modi made it clear that Shoaib can't play for the Knight Rider owing to Pakistan Cricket Board's 5-year ban on the speedster.

However, IPL Board will give an option to Kolkata Knight Riders to replace Shoaib with another player. Now the ball is in the Kolkata franchise’s court whether to fight for Shoaib or to look out for a better replacement until he is cleared by PCB.