Akram was never part of CL T20 commentary panel: Raman

New Delhi:

Organisers of the the Champions League Twenty20 tournament on Monday rubbished media reports that Wasim Akram has been stopped from doing commentary in the event here by the Indian government, insisting that the pace legend was never a part of the commentators panel.

"Akram was never part of the panel. We would have liked to have him but then there is no Pakistani team playing in the League. We have to choose ommentators from participating countries. We have seven countries and a slot of only 10 or 12 commentators," Champions League Twenty20 CEO Sunder Raman told reporters.

"We would like to have him some time in the future," he added.

Raman denied reports that Champions League organisers were under pressure from the Indian government to not have Akram on the panel for the high-profile event starting October eight.

"There is no pressure from the government. There is not an iota of truth in these allegations or reports," he said.

The event's broadcaster ESPN-STAR Sports also denied these reports.

"We never had him in the panel. So, there was no question of stopping him," a channel official said.

In a list of commentators released on September 23, Akram did not feature on the channel's panel.

The list included Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara, who will make his commentary debut.

The 31-year-old would share the mike with former players like Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Ian Bishop, Sanjay Manjrekar and Ian Chappell. The commentary team would also have Harsha Bhogle and former Australian cricketer Mike Haysman.