Pakistan star players Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Mohammed Rizwan are unlikely to get a No Objection Certificate(NOC) to feature in the upcoming Global T20 Canada.
The 2024 Global T20 Canada will be played between 25 July and 11 August. Just a few days before the tournament, the Pakistan Cricket Board rumoured not to grant a No Objection Certificate(NOC) for their players.
Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were set to feature for Vancouver Knights while Shaheen Afridi was set to play for Toronto Nationals. A source revealed Geo News that the players won’t get an NOC despite the league schedule, avoiding any clashes with Pakistan’s international fixtures.
Pakistan were scheduled to play two match test series against Bangladesh between August 21 and September 3 while the Global T20 Canada league will be played between July 25 and August 11.
The report also claims that the reason for the likely denial of the NOC is that players playing in all formats will not be issued the certificate according to the policy.
PCB is not in favour of issuing NOCs to all format players because of the hectic schedule that lies ahead of them. This will not be the first denial after their worst T20 World Cup 2024 campaign, earlier Pakistan speedster Naseen Shah also denied an NOC to feature in the Hundred 2024 tournament in the UK.
The source claimed that Naseen’s application for NOC was rejected to safeguard the pacer from injuries as the youngster features in all three formats for Pakistan and suffered injuries and faced fitness challenges last year.
Apart from the trio, Mohammed Amir, Nawaz, Asif Ali and Iftikhar Ahmed also have Global T20 Canada contracts.
Earlier this week, PCB chairman Naqvi revealed that a player will be given the NOC based on certain criteria and players who fulfil them will be granted an NOC.
“The players will be promoted on the basis of their fitness and performance. There’s no place for players who do not fit the criteria. There’ll also be no compromise on discipline,” said PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi.
Apart from skipping the Canada T20 league, Shaheen Afridi could miss the Bangladesh Test series as Shaheen and his wife Ansha who got married last year are expecting the birth of their first child during the same time period.
Pakistan red ball coach Jason Gillispie has already hinted at the pacer’s unavailability last week.
“Shaheen can miss Bangladesh Test matches due to childbirth. We can give him [some] rest if he wants to stay with his wife till then,” Pakistan’s red-ball coach, Jason Gillispie, said last week.
