PCB prioritises international calendar, denies NOCs to star trio to play in Global T20 Canada

sanjeev

khelja|20-07-2024

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has cleared its intentions of prioritising the international calendar by denying the No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) to the star trio of Captain Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan to play in the Global T20 League in Canada.
Per latest reports, the PCB consulted with the three players and the selection committee before taking this call. This decision came soon after the PCB denied NOC to seamer Naseem Shah to play in The Hundred in the UK. The right-arm pacer was signed for Birmingham Phoenix for a deal worth £125,000.   Pakistan will host multiple teams in the busiest home season in over a century, with two Tests against Bangladesh beginning on August 21. England will tour Pakistan for three Tests before the Men in Green travels abroad for white-ball series against Australia and Zimbabwe. Pakistan will then tour South Africa for an all-format series during the New Year, and upon returning home, they will host West Indies for two Tests, followed by a tri-series involving South Africa and New Zealand. Per the slated schedule, Pakistan will also host the eight-team Champions Trophy in February-March, ending their season with an away NZ Tour and 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL). Considering eight to nine months of non-stop cricket, the board decided against allocating the NOCs to star players to keep them fresh for the lengthy home season. "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," a PCB statement reads. International cricket is priority While non-centrally-contracted players like Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Nawaz and Asif Ali recently received the green signal to participate in other franchise-based T20 leagues worldwide, considering the heavy workload, mainly concerning Test cricket, contracted players were denied this chance. It, however, is significant in plenty of ways, as despite the mention of every contracted player allowed to participate in two franchise-based T20 leagues worldwide yearly, given it shouldn't collide with the international calendar, the PCB denied these players by not providing the NOCs. Meanwhile, Bangladesh will arrive in Pakistan in mid-August to play two Tests in Rawalpindi (August 21) and Karachi (August 30), respectively.