Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Afridi barred from Global T20 Canada as PCB rejects NOCs

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has denied Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Mohammed Rizwan from participating in the Global T20 Canada 2024 tournament. PCB has denied NOCs to all these players to participate in the franchise cricket tournament due to the upcoming national duties.

Notably, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Afridi are three crucial members of the Pakistan team. All these experienced members are part of the national team in Tests, ODIs, and T20Is. Also, they have been a regular for the team for the last few years.

Babar Azam is the current skipper of the Pakistan team in ODIs and T20Is. He is also a regular one-down batter for the side. Mohammad Rizwan captures the permanent spot as the wicketkeeper for the team. Shaheen Afridi is the most crucial pacer for the side and leads the pace attack for the team.

He was also appointed as the skipper in T20Is after the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 last year. However, since Pakistan faced a humiliating 4-1 defeat against New Zealand in his first campaign, Afridi was removed as the skipper of the side.

Later, Babar Azam was reinstated as the skipper in the limited-overs format. However, both of them played in the recent ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in West Indies.

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PCB denies NOCs to Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan for Global T20 Canada

Hence, all these three members are crucial players for the side and PCB wants them to focus on national duties first. In an official statement, PCB revealed the reason for scrapping their NOCs to play in Global T20 Canada.

"It should be remembered that between August 2024 and March 2025, the Pakistan cricket team has to play nine Tests of the ICC World Test Championship, the ICC Champions Trophy, 14 ODIs and nine T20Is. All three cricketers play all three formats and Pakistan will need their services in the next eight months," the statement from the Pakistan Cricket Board read.

Notably, the Pakistani Board also stopped Naseem Shah from playing in The Hundred 2024 last week. It is a franchise T20I tournament of England and Naseem Shah was signed by Birmingham Phoenix Team. Interestingly, PCB recently gave NOCs to Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Nawaz, and Asif Ali for various franchise T20 tournaments.

Also Read: Pakistan Foreign Ministry issues an official statement on Indian Government denying team India the permission for ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Pakistan is set to face Bangladesh in 2 Tests in August

Pakistan is set to face Bangladesh at home in a two-match Test series at home. The Pakistan vs Bangladesh series will witness two games from August 21 to September 3. England will also tour Pakistan in October 2024. Pakistan will tour Australia in November 2024.

Meanwhile, Global T20 Canada 2024 is set to take place from July 23 to August 18 this year. It is a franchise T20 tournament that takes place in Canada every year. Recently, many Pakistan players took part in Lanka Premier League 2024, a franchise league based in Sri Lanka.