KARACHI, March 14: The Pakistan Cricket Board on Friday said it had made every effort to see that senior batsman Mohammad Yousuf got a chance to play for some team in the Indian Premier League despite his legal hassles with the rebel Indian Cricket League.

”Twice he was available to the teams bidding for the players in the IPL auctions. But if no team is bidding for him what can we do?” said a senior PCB official in a statement on Friday.

According to reports, Yousuf has been unhappy with his Board and the Indian cricket officials for not doing enough to ensure teams showed interest in purchasing him for the IPL tournament scheduled to start from April 18 in India.

Teams apparently have avoided bidding for Yousuf as the legal advisors of the rebel Indian Cricket League had notified in writing before the players auction that since they had filed a case against Yousuf with an arbitration panel in Mumbai, he was legally not allowed to play in the IPL.

The ICL claims that Yousuf first signed a contract with them and then backed out and is now trying to play in the IPL which they say is breach of contract and have filed for damages against him.

The Arbitration panel headed by a former Judge has restrained Yousuf from signing up for the IPL till the charges against him lodged by the ICL are decided.

The Arbitration panel will meet again on March 29 to consider an application moved by the legal advisor of the Pakistan board for removal of the stay order against the senior batsman.

Yousuf has privately complained that he had made a mistake by listening to the PCB and Indian board officials and withdrawn from his ICL contract. He feels he is missing out on a golden opportunity to earn extra money since no franchised team in the IPL has bid for him because of the case before the arbitration panel.

‘‘There is no doubt that Yousuf is unhappy but we are doing our best to support him and fight his case. In fact, his name was there on the players list for the second auction but if no team bid for him it is no one’s mistake,” the PCB’s senior official said.

”Since the ICL has taken legal course of action of course it will take time to sort out the issue and Yousuf has to be patient. But if no team has bid for him there is nothing one can do about it,” he stated.

Except for Yousuf all the other top Pakistan players have been signed up by different teams in the IPL. Sources said some of his team-mates were now trying to convince the ICL bigwigs to accept Yousuf’s apology the drop the legal proceedings against him.—Agencies