LAHORE – Former captain Moin Khan, who was in the forefront in the defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL), has appealed to the owners of the league to clear outstanding payments of the players.
Moin said that he had also spoken to the FICA chief executive Tim May on this issue but the Pakistani players could do nothing except waiting for the ICL organisers to fulfill their promises at some stage. Moin launched an appeal to the owner of the league, Subash Chandra and said he had also been in touch with the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) to resolve the issue of outstanding dues to the Pakistani players.
The league, which was launched in 2007 and held for two seasons, faded away after the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 and since then has not been held with the owners saying they were facing losses and problems as the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the BCCI refusing to recognise the ICL. Pakistani Test pacer Shabbir Ahmed, who took part in the ICL, told the media in Lahore that he was disappointed with the attitude of the league organisers who had not cleared his dues despite promises.
Insisting he had no regrets over joining the league, Shabbir said he was still waiting for the organisers to fulfill their commitments. “I don’t regret my decision,” he said. “But it’s been two years and they still haven’t cleared our dues.” The ICL had signed over two dozen Pakistan cricketers, and five of them including Mohammad Yousuf, Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar and Abdul Razzaq have already cut off their ties with the league and obtained NOCs to play for the national team again.
Recently, Hasan Raza and Mohammad Sami threatened to go to the court if their outstanding payments were not cleared soon. Pakistan openers Taufeeq Umar, Imran Farhat and his brother Humayun are also included in the list of players awaiting their dues. “We have also sent them the legal notice through our agent Moin Khan but there has been no response,” he said.
He claimed the ICL owned him around 10 million rupees. Moin who was also coach of the Lahore Badshah team and signed on Pakistani players for the ICL as an authorised agent of the league said the ICL dues were around two million dollars for all players. “The players have not received their third installment as yet although sometime back I had met with the chief organisers and they had promised the dues would be cleared soon,” he added.
