Pakistan Trio Disobey PCB Orders To Play In T10 League

It seems that the heated discussion between Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and its players doesn’t seem to come to a close anytime soon. Pakistani players have only added fuel to the fire as they defied the board orders to play in the T10 league in Abu Dhabi. It has been learnt that all three players willingly walked out of their first-class teams only to play in the elite tournament.

In October, Pakistan Cricket Board had officially cancelled the conditional No Objection Certificates (NOCs) given to its players to take part in the T10 League which starts from November 15 onwards. PCB, in an official statement, said that it had to take the important decision in order to manage the players’ workload, continued work on their fitness factors to ensure participation of its players in its premier Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

But, the T10 tourney is set to clash with a fitness and medical assessment camp at the NCA including the several rounds of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. Therefore, the Pakistan Cricket Board had decided against allowing its cricketers to jet off to Abu Dhabi and play in the competition. Needless to say, the orders from the parent cricket body didn’t make any difference for pacer Haris Rauf, batsmen Mirza Ehsan Baig and all-rounder Sohail Akhtar.

Pakistan trio walked out of first-class teams to play T10 League

All the three Pakistani cricketers have already made up their mind to leave their first-class teams and relocate to Abu Dhabi. They are yet to acquire the mandatory NOC from the PCB to participate in the tournament. However, sources in the know of developments revealed that the trio planned to fly to Abu Dhabi and try to play for the Lahore Qalanders team, Qalandars in the T10 league.

“These three players informed their teams in domestic first-class cricket after the national T20 championship that they couldn’t play any longer in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy as they were going to play for their Pakistan Super League franchise, Lahore Qalanders,” the source was quoted as saying by Times Of India.

“Basically, all three told their coaches that they were not interested in red-ball cricket and were white-ball specialists and left their teams,” the source said.

A PCB source added that the board is contented that the players would not be able to turn up in the competition without getting the No Objection Certificate. Since the T10 league is an ICC recognized event, the cricketers of the country need to ask permission from Pakistan Cricket Board in order to participate in it.

It is still not sure how the parent cricket body will respond when the players approach them for the NOCs. A senior PCB official on the condition of anonymity said that players have to show NOCs to the board in order to take part in the T10 league because the event is organised by the international cricket body, ICC.

“The T10 league is an event recognized by the ICC so players have to show NOCs of their home boards to play in the event,” PCB official added.