Pakistani players, who were supposed to take part in the Bangladesh Premier League, are disappointed with PCB’s decision to not issue NOCs to them for the twenty20 tournament starting tomorrow.
Some of these players were understandably reluctant to speak on record but those who had contracts to play in the league feel that the PCB should have atleast allowed those players who have yet to play international cricket.
“The PCB could have reached a solution by holding back the star players to register its protest with the BCB for not sending its team to Pakistan but allowed those players who are only playing domestic cricket to go and earn some good money in the league,” one player told PTI.
He pointed out that Pakistan was one of those Test playing nations where domestic players were paid very little.
“This was a good chance for around 25 to 30 players to go and earn some good money but apparently the PCB felt otherwise,” he said.
The list of the category B and C players who were hired by franchises in the BPL included Fawad Alam, Mohammad Sami, Khurrum Manzoor, Awais Zia, Azeem Ghuman, Shahzaib Hasan, Umar Amin, Asad Ali, Zulfiqar Babar, Sharjeel Khan, Anwar Ali, Babar Azam, Bilawal Bhatti, Hammad Azam, Khalid Latif, Monsoor Amjad, Junaid Zia, Reza Ali, Rahat Ali, Adeel Malik, Ali Khan, Saad Anwar, Samiullah Niazi and Shakeel Ansar.
The franchises had put up a total sum of around USD 1 million dollars for the Category players like Imran Nazir (USD 280,000), Shahid Afridi (USD 275,000), Kamran Akmal (USD 75,000), Shoaib Malik (USD 85,000), Abdul Razzaq (USD 92,000), Wahab Riaz (USD 65,000) etc.
Pakistan’s former captain, Rashid Latif also didn’t agree with the decision of the PCB.
“The board should have allowed the players to go and play in the BPL. Most of them only get a chance to play domestic cricket and they don’t earn much at that level,” Latif said.
“The players who are playing for Pakistan are well off but it is not the same with the domestic level players. Some of them have to support joint families. The PCB needed to understand this,” he said.
Latif also felt that there was no reason for the PCB to push the BCB to tour Pakistan.
“Tell me even if Bangladesh had come or comes what difference will it make to Pakistan cricket. Will other teams follow the example of Bangladesh in these conditions,” he said.
The former wicketkeeper—batsman hoped that the PCB is able to launch the Pakistan Super League as promised. “Because now this is the only avenue available to our players who play domestic cricket to earn some good money.”
He also noted that the PCB was not helping its image by repeatedly saying it had always supported Bangladesh cricket.
“If we did something good forget about it. But it is not right to try to pressurize Bangladesh into coming to Pakistan.
And the PCB should have only accepted Bangladesh’s promises in writing,” he said.
