A court in Pakistan on Monday suspended a ban imposed by the country’s cricket board barring players from domestic matches after they agreed to join the unofficial Indian Cricket League.
Around 19 Pakistani players featured in the ICL, bankrolled by the country’s largest media group, Zee Television, but not recognised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India or the International Cricket Council (ICC).
In 2007, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) barred the players, who included former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and star batsman Mohammad Yousuf, from playing at all levels in the country.
The ICL players challenged the ban in the provincial Sindh high court last month. Their lawyer Zahid Fakhruddin Ibrahim said justice had been done.
‘Judge Amir Hani Muslim has suspended the PCB ban imposed on the ICL players and they are now free to play,’ Ibrahim told AFP.
Asked if the players could now play for Pakistan, Ibrahim said: ‘The ban was only on domestic cricket, it’s up to the PCB to select a player for an international match or not and that cannot be challenged.’The players lined up for the Lahore Badshahs in the ICL season and were a major attraction, winning the Twenty20 league last year.
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The recent ICC meeting has sent Pakistan team in a cricketing exile, Champions trophy is being moved to another venue most probably Srilanka, it seems ICC and its members are vary of only the bombs which explode in Pakistan, those which explode in India and Srilanka they are just considered as mere fire crackers, despite safely hosting several series during the last year Pakistan failed to convince other members that it is safe for cricket. It has become clear now that cricketing sanctions against Pakistan are politically motivated and will only be lifted when the political landscape in the region will change. Until then Pakistan should play abroad and should reorganize and improve its domestic cricket to rebuild a strong team.
The suspension of ICL bans is a welcome decision, PCB should consider some of these players for the upcoming test series against Srilanka and there is no need to take any dictation from ICC or any of its member nation.
ICL without Lahore Badshahs is not a saleable product and its demise is quite eminent. Pakistan Government has stopped the cricketers from travelling to India until further notice as their safety cannot be ensured as a result they will not play in IPL.
It will be a huge challenge for Ejaz Butt and his administration to keep the players busy domestically its a shame that despite having all the resources and foreseeing the current problem PCB adminstrators have done no contingency planning they should have launched PPL last year.
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