The forthcoming edition of the Bangladesh Premier League suffered a blow on Saturday as Pakistan barred its centrally contracted players from the tournament until November 17.
A statement of Pakistan Cricket Board said that their players would be given permission to play in BPL and Global T20 League in South Africa subject to the condition that they play National T20 Cup from November 7 to 17.
The tournament is scheduled to take place from November 7 to 23 in Multan and Faisalabad, while Bangladesh’s only franchise-based tournament BPL will start on November 3.
‘PCB has decided that all the centrally contracted players, who are not facing any other restriction, must also participate in PCB’s T20 tournament to strengthen our domestic cricket, as per international best practices,’ the Pakistan board said in a statement.
‘However, retired players like Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul Haq, Younis Khan besides players like Mohammad Sami and Sohail Tanvir, who are not centrally contracted, will
be given NOCs from the start.’
The decision of PCB will affect at least 10 Pakistani players, who are contracted with different BPL franchises.
Comilla Victorians will be worst-hit as they have four Pakistani contracted players in Hassan Ali, Fahim Ashraf, Shoaib Malik and Rumman Raees.
Khulna Titans will miss the service of Junaid Khan, Sarfraz Ahmed and Shadab Khan in the start of the tournament due to the same reason.
Dhaka Dynamites’s recruit Mohammed Amir and Sylhet Sixers’s Usman Khan Shinwari and Babar Azam will also be unavailable for this period due to PCB decision.
BPL’s first two phases will end on November 15 while the third phase will begin on November 17.
-With New Age input
