Pakistan players unlikely to play Abu Dhabi T10

The participation of Pakistan players in the Abu Dhabi T10 has become highly unlikely after the PCB blocked NOCs (No-Objection Certificates) for their players unless the league paid them USD $10,000 for each NOC it issues to the players. The late stipulation has left franchises scrambling to either pay the fee, or look for replacement players.

Cricinfo understands the Abu Dhabi T10 management placed an application for NOCs for Pakistani players soon after the league's player draft on September 30. According to officials, the PCB only communicated the USD$10,000 demand at the start of this week, days ahead of the scheduled start of the tournament on November 7.

As many as 16 cricketers from Pakistan were picked by five of the six teams in the player draft. Cricinfo understands that some players were planning to pay the fee to the PCB from their own salaries, in case their team owners refused to pay the extra USD$10,000. Despite efforts at mediation, teams are now exploring replacement players.

Last month, the PCB withheld NOCs for players to take part in the Nepal Premier League (NPL) asking for USD $25,000 for each player. While Hussain Talat and Jahandad Khan continued to play in the NPL, most cricketers returned without featuring in the tournament.

The PCB has had an on-off policy of seeking a fee in return for issuing an NOC to participate in franchise leagues in recent years. It first cropped up as an issue at the time of the ILT20 launch. At the time, the rationale was to apply the fee for leagues in which the PCB felt a reciprocal player availability arrangement was not especially attractive. In these cases, for instance, the PCB would deem players from Nepal and UAE to not be in as much demand in the PSL as Pakistan players would be in leagues in their countries. According to one PCB official, that rationale still holds.

The PCB has overhauled its NOC policy for foreign leagues in the new central contracts, removing the cap on the number of T20 and T10 tournaments for those players in Track C, who are T20 specialist players. The only caveat is their availability for national duty. Dual format specialists in Track AB, which includes red ball and one-day players, and white-ball specialists (one-day and T20) in Track BC are allowed one and two leagues in a year, respectively. The red-ball specialists - Track A - are not allowed to play in any overseas T20 or T10 league.

Under previous administrations, the PCB allowed only two foreign leagues to centrally contracted players - across the board - in a policy which it called 'PSL plus two'.

It, however, remains unclear which players fall under which tracks as the PCB has not announced the new central contracts. The contracts for 2025-26 lapsed on June 30.

Opportunities for Pakistani players in overseas league continue to thin, in part because of the strained political relationship between Pakistan and India. Pakistan players are already frozen out of the IPL and franchises under Indian - and IPL - ownership across other leagues largely refrain from signing Pakistan players. For example, no Pakistani player has appeared in the SA20 where all the teams are owned by IPL franchisees.

Abrar Ahmed was picked up by Sunrisers Leeds - of the IPL's Sunrisers Hyderabad - for the men's Hundred this summer. Usman Tariq has played for Trinidad Knight Riders (the same ownership as Kolkata Knight Riders) for the 2025 and 2026 CPL and been picked for Abu Dhabi Knight Riders for this year's ILT20. Beyond those geopolitical reasons, the erratic manner in which the PCB has deployed NOCs, some players point out, has also played a part.

The PCB has not responded to queries.

Players picked at Abu Dhabi T10 draft: Salman Irshad (Arabian Aces), Akif Javed, Hasan Nawaz, Ali Raza (Emirates Eagles), Naseem Shah (Royal Desert Champions), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Khawaja Nafay, Khushdil Shah, Azam Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr (UAE Bulls), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Sufyan Moqeem, Abbas Afridi (United Tigers)