After opting not to give Naseem Shah a nod of approval for the Hundred, the PCB is headed for a collision path with some of the greatest figures in Pakistan cricket.
The PCB is probably going to turn down NOC requests from a number of all-format players for next franchise events. Although the ICC has not yet formally sanctioned the Global T20 League in Canada, which is necessary for the PCB to grant NoCs to centrally contracted players, it is anticipated that Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan will not be permitted to participate, most likely due to workload management.
The Hundred’s Birmingham Phoenix will miss out on Naseem next month due to the decision’s immediate ramifications, and Afridi, Rizwan, and Babar won’t be available for the Global T20 League Canada. Although Pakistan’s schedule is packed with matches against other countries, it is known that the PCB would prefer that its all-format players have a break before Pakistan’s two-match Test series against Bangladesh, which begins on August 21, conflict with either competition.
The GLT20 is still awaiting formal ICC sanction, but it was entirely anticipated that the Pakistani players that were recruited would be permitted to participate; Afridi is expected to go to Canada soon, and the competition is officially set to start on July 25. In the meanwhile, Naseem was expected to get £125,000 for his July 23 start date at The Hundred.
Though it seems probable that the most recent NOC repressions will only impact those regarded as all-format regulars, this does not imply that no NOC requests will be granted. Haris Rauf and Usama Mir, who had their NoC rejected for the T20 Blast last month, will be permitted to participate in The Hundred.
Over the course of the next month, the NOC rejections will affect more than just the leagues. Pakistan’s cricket season runs from October through May of the following year, almost nonstop. That month, they have three home Test matches against England, as well as limited-overs series in Australia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa; a home Test series against the West Indies; a home tri-series between South Africa and New Zealand; a home Champions Trophy; and the PSL. It is anticipated that during that time, which coincides with a flurry of T20 competitions, the PCB would not consider any requests for NOCs from all-format players.
The players and the PCB agreed to three-year core contracts last year, which permitted participation in two foreign franchise leagues annually, provided the player’s international duties did not conflict with the events. The decision to remove the players from leagues that do not directly conflict with international cricket is expected to cause discontent among the affected players and raise concerns about whether the allowance made in central contracts is being respected in spirit, even though the contracts do state that the PCB has the right to refuse NOCs if they believe it is in the best interests of Pakistan’s international obligations.
After Pakistan’s catastrophic T20 World Cup campaign, in which they were eliminated in the first round, an unsettling silence has been prevailing for the last month. Although Mohsin Naqvi, the chairman of the PCB, was first reported to have planned to perform “major surgery” on the side, no immediate consequences followed the leave. Nonetheless, there have been indications recently that things are starting to move more quickly, as Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq were fired from the PCB selection committee.
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