Lahore, March 17: Repercussions of the disastrous tour of Australia continues to shake Pakistan cricket with the PCB barring national team players from featuring in tournaments abroad.
According to a statemnet issued yesterday, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said the cricketers need to seek prior before signing any contracts with foreign leagues or clubs.
With the board recently banning and slapping hefty fines on several senior players following the national team’s shambolic show Down Under, this step would also prevent a number of leading national cricketers from taking part in the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) in Sharjah, which is scheduled to get underway from March 26.
”The Pakistan Cricket Board firmly conveys to all concerned that no player is allowed to play cricket outside Pakistan without having prior approval from the board in this regard,” said the PCB statement.
”Any player interested to play cricket in any part of the world should apply to the board to seek permission for the same,” it added.
Seasoned all-rounder Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam, Umar Gul, Misbah-ul-Haq and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan were supposed to feature in the BCL.
Meanwhile, sources close to the PCB said the board has taken such a step in order to ensure that the Pakistan players remained focused on the preparations for the ICC World Twenty20 championships, which gets underway from April 30 in the West Indies.
——Agencies