Several senior Pakistan players, including captain Misbah-ul-Haq and former captain Shahid Afridi, are unhappy with the PCB as they have not got permission to play a Twenty20 match in Toronto match on May 12. The players are upset because they had sought permission from Intikhab, who is PCB Director (international cricket operations) and had got verbal assurance.
“Now it has transpired that since none of the players has applied for NOCs in writing from the Board and neither have they submitted details of the organisers and match the PCB says it cannot give permission,” the source added.
Another source said the players were now blaming Intikhab for the mess up but a Board official said the players were themselves to blame for the situation.
“Even if Intikhab gave them permission verbally the Board can`t act without having something in writing. None of the players have bothered to seek permission or NOC in writing from the relevant authorities in the board so how do they expect to get permission,” the official said. He also said that under existing regulation no player could confirm his appearance in a match or enter into a deal with any foreign club without first taking the Board into confidence and getting their NOC. “All players who now go to play in foreign leagues have to follow this practice. It was adopted for the Bangladesh Premier League and even when players signed contracts with English counties.”
The players contention is that since Misbah and Afridi were in Thailand for a commercial shoot they didn`t have time to write to the Board and secondly they accepted that getting verbal clearance from Intikhab was enough and he would talk to the board himself.
The organisers are creating a fuss now as according to them they have sold out tickets for the match on the basis of the Pakistani players confirming their appearance in the match.
“The organisers point out that tickets were sold out because they advertised that Misbah, Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Akmal, Hammad Azam were the players who would take part in the match,” one source said.
“They even arranged electronic visas for the players for Canada after confirmation from the players and they fear if the players don`t show up for the match they could face heavy financial losses.”
