Shoaib was bought by the Kolkata franchise, owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, for $425,000 though he is set to lose out on a three-year contract with the lucrative event if he fails to win his appeal against the ban from the Pakistan Cricket Board.

“Shoaib has been banned from playing and until his ban is lifted he cannot play in the IPL,” IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi told Reuters.

“We know his appeal against the ban is coming up for hearing. We're hoping his ban will be lifted. He is a great player and we want him to play. But he cannot play in IPL as long as the ban is applicable.”

Hours earlier, Modi’s colleague on the Board of Control for Cricket in India Inderjit Bindra said that world cricket had a responsibility to respect bans handed down by full members and said it would be ethically inappropriate for the IPL to allow Shoaib to play while he is banned from playing in his own country until 2013.

Fast bowler Shoaib, one of the headline names in the inaugural competition, is appealing his ban and said he will also go to court if his appeal is not successful.

Meantime, PCB Chairman Nasim Ashraf has filed a defamation case against Shoaib for comments spoken on a Pakistani television channel on Wednesday. In the two-page document has asks Shoaib to retract his statements, make a full apology and to promise not to make similar comments publicly in the future.