PCB agrees to release players for T10 League

KARACHI: The fledgling T10 League in the UAE has received a new lease of life after Pakistan’s cricket authorities agreed to release their players for the second edition of the event.

The T10 league seemed to be in trouble after Pakistan’s new cricket chief Ehsan Mani raised questions about its credibility and hinted that he won’t allow Pakistani players to feature in it.

But after several weeks of uncertainty, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Thursday that it would issue NOCs to its players for the second edition of the T10 League following “extensive diligence” in coordination with the Emirates Cricket Board and the ICC.

But the release of the players would be conditional as the event’s organisers will have to pay a flat fee of US$ 600,000 to the PCB for the NOCs, which will be dealt with on a “case-to-case basis”. In addition, the PCB will also deploy their own integrity officers to monitor the tournament.

As many as 17 Pakistani players had been selected in the draft held in Dubai in September, although it’s unlikely all of them will be granted permission because the league clashes with Pakistan’s Test series against New Zealand in the UAE. In any case, with the PCB having capped the number of franchise leagues their contracted players can participate in to just two, several might not be eligible.

Mani’s apprehension may have stemmed from former T10 League president Salman Iqbal pulling out citing a lack of “transparency and proper systems and monitoring”. Mani had subsequently written to the ICC in September seeking reassurances about the league.

Meanwhile, the T10 League has also signed four former India players, including World Cup winner Zaheer Khan, alongside the recently-retired Praveen Kumar, S Badrinath and Reetinder Sodhi, now a BCCI match referee. The other overseas players include Chris Gayle, Shane Watson, Rashid Khan, Shahid Afridi, Andre Russell and England’s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan.

Morgan, currently in Sri Lanka with England’s limited-overs squad, will return to lead defending champions Kerala Kings. Kieron Pollard, not part of the West Indies ODI squad that is on tour in India, is also set to feature in the league

The T10 League will feature eight teams this year, as compared to six last year. The tournament will be held over 12 days and feature 28 matches, more than double from the 13 matches over four days last year. —with inputs from agencies