The fourth season of Global T20 Canada is slated to begin on the 25th of July in Ontario, a venue where the entire tournament will be staged. However, Pakistan’s main players including Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi will miss the complete edition after their request to acquire the No Objection Certificates (NOCs) was declined by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). PCB was expected to go down the same road by many but the governing body had not commented on the matter officially. That was until late 19th July when the Board released a media statement to announce their decision.
“The PCB had received NOC requests from Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Afridi for the Global T20 event, amongst other players. After taking into consideration Pakistan’s busy and packed cricket calendar in the period from August 2024 to March 2025, which includes nine ICC World Test Championship matches and next year’s ICC Champions Trophy 2025, and following consultations with the three players as well as the national selection committee, it has been decided to decline their requests.”
The statement further read,
“The three are all-format cricketers and their services are expected to be required in the upcoming eight months during which Pakistan will play nine Tests, 14 ODIs, and nine T20Is. As such, and in line with the PCB’s workload management policy, it is in the best interest of Pakistan Cricket and the players that they skip the upcoming event in Canada so that they are in their best mental and physical shape for the season, which commences with the two-Test series against Bangladesh”
While the PCB cited workload management as the reason behind denying the NOCs, many sources stated earlier that there were other reasons behind the decision too. One of which was that the Global T20 Canada organizers have not yet received approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the tournament. According to many reports, the organizers are yet to pay their dues to Cricket Canada and the ICC will only grant the approval when this matter is resolved.
In addition to that, some suspicious activities, whose details have not resurfaced yet, are being linked with the tournament, causing not only problems with the approval but also making many boards hesitant to let their players play in the league.
Interestingly, this policy is put in place for all-format Pakistan cricketers only. Players like Mohammad Nawaz, Asif Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, and Mohammad Amir who only represent Pakistan in one or two formats, have all received their NOCs to play Global T20 as well as a few other leagues. PCB had earlier disallowed Naseem Shah to play in the Hundred, where he was signed by Birmingham Phoenix for a whopping £125,000, citing the same reasons. Pakistan have a busy schedule leading up to the Champions Trophy 2025, keeping in view that, it seems only logical for the Board to want the players to rest before the packed affairs commence. The men in green will begin their packed cricket calendar with a home Test series against Bangladesh which is scheduled to begin on the 21st of August at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
