Fakhruddin G Ibrahim, a respected lawyer and former Governor of Sindh province, is said to have accepted the request to represent some of the ICL players and have sent a legal notice to the Pakistan Cricket Board in this regard.

"In the first stage, Fakhruddin has sent a notice to the PCB asking them to explain under what law or regulations they have banned the players from playing international and domestic cricket," one source said.

He said PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt is now likely to take up the issue at the International Cricket Council's executive board meeting in Perth later this month where the ICL issue is expected to be discussed in detail by member countries.

Sources say that the PCB itself is interested in removing the ban from its players for appearing in the rebel league and wants the cricketers to initiate legal action so that the board will have grounds to reinstate them without losing face in front of the ICC or Indian Cricket Board.

With Pakistan's 'not so impressive performance' against Sri Lanka in the just concluded one-day series, the pressure is increasing on the PCB to reinstate some ICL players like Mohammad Yousuf, Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved and Mohammad Sami, who are tipped as certain in the national squad, to strengthen the team.