The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has suspended the No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for all the players with immediate effect. The PCB, which earlier allowed its contracted players to feature in a maximum of two overseas T20 leagues in a season and gone back on its decision to fully scrap it as of now and it has put contracts of some of the players already signed in the Big Bash League (BBL) and Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) in doubt.
"With the approval of Chairman PCB, all No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for players with respect to participation in leagues and other out-of-country tournaments are hereby put on hold until further orders," the notice, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo, read.
As many as 18 Pakistani players have registered for the first-ever ILT20 auction and the franchise owners will now be hesitant in placing a bid for them, especially the ones currently contracted with the board.
Haris Rauf (Melbourne Stars) Babar Azam (Sydney Sixers) Shadab Khan (Sydney Thunder) Mohammad Rizwan (Melbourne Renegades) Hasan Ali (Adelaide Strikers) and Shaheen Afridi (Brisbane Heat) were all picked in the BBL draft while the likes of Khushdil Shah (Rangpur Riders) Khawaja Nafay (Rangpur Riders) Sufyan Muqeem (Rangpur Riders) and Faheem Ashraf (Fortune Barishal) have signed for the Bangladesh Premier League.
The likes of Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub and Naseem Shah have registered for the ILT20 auction, but with the uncertainty around, unfortunately, no one might get picked in the auction on Wednesday, October 1.
The decision was taken after the conclusion of the Asia Cup and the events during the tournament and the Indian franchise owners' presence in most of the overseas leagues might have a connection. The decision will ultimately affect the Pakistan cricket team, who still are not playing at the level at which T20 cricket should be played and by playing in England, Australia, South Africa or in the USA, only the players would have benefited.
