The Pakistan Cricket Board has on Saturday barred nine of its national players from taking part in the Dhaka Premier League.
It was learnt that nine Pakistan cricketers were scheduled to take part in the league, but a PCB official revealed that they have been stopped from taking part due to the upcoming series against England. Prominent cricketers such as Younus Khan, Muhammed Hafeez, Abdul Rehman, Shoaib Malik and Imran Farhat were to take part in the league. Earlier, the participation of nine Pakistan players was taken as a surprise as to how the PCB allowed its top players to sign up for the Bangladesh Twenty20 Premier League ahead of the all-important series against England in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The league is to start from December 26.
Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Sohail Tanvir and Wahab Riaz, who are currently out of the team, were the other players who believed to have been given a go-ahead to play in the league. When the news of their participation came, cricket analysts, however, questioned the wisdom behind allowing the players to sign up for the league before the England series.
And when the criticism started to grow, the PCB barred them from participation. “The Pakistan team will hardly have 12 to 13 days, after returning home, before they go to the UAE for the England Tests. In this period a conditioning camp will be held and there is a possibility that the board might appoint the new coaching staff headed by Dav Whatmore,” an analyst said. “So it makes no sense that instead of telling the players to mentally and physically prepare for a tough series against England the players have been allowed to go and play in a T20 league that will not help them in their preparations at all,” he insisted.
He pointed out that England will be reaching UAE on January 3 to prepare for the Test series. “The series against England can’t be taken lightly at all. They are a totally different opposition from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh,” he pointed. The board has already allowed Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Rana Naved to play in the Big Bash Twenty20 league in Australia, but the source pointed out that all three were not required by Pakistan for the Test series against England.
