Pakistan players can participate in three ICC approved leagues in a year: PCB

Pakistan players will now be able to take part in a maximum of three ICC approved leagues in a year excluding the Pakistan Super League, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Tuesday. PCB revised its policy for awarding NOC's to centrally contracted players for foreign T20 leagues during a meeting of the Board of Governors held in Peshawar. In another major decision, the BOG members gave their approval to PCB chief Ehsan Mani to negotiate with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) over the hosting of the Asia Cup in September.

According to a PCB release, the BoG approved the No Objective Certificate (NOC) guidelines for cricketers. The policy allows centrally contracted players to seek a clearance for up to a maximum of three ICC-approved foreign leagues, excluding the Pakistan Super League, as long as they don't coincide with the PCB-organised events and player workload and fitness regime is properly managed. The CEO, however, shall have a final approval right.

The release said that further details on the NOC policy will be announced in due course. However, it didn't mention what the policy would be for players not given central contracts. Last year, the PCB's relations with some boards took a hit owing to a unclear NOC policy which led to players either not being issued NOCs or being called back from events at the eleventh hour which left some boards unhappy.

Relations with the Emirates Cricket Board took a hit when the PCB after first issuing conditional NOCs for the T10 league in Sharjah cancelled them for all players at the last moment, leaving the organizers in a lurch as several Pakistani players were signed up by franchises including a Pakistani franchise, Lahore Qalanders. On the issue of the Asia Cup, the BoG authorised the PCB management to make a decision on the hosting of this year's Asia Cup keeping in mind the interests of the PCB and in line with its policy of not mixing sports with politics. Mani will represent Pakistan at the upcoming ACC meeting (date and venue to be confirmed) and present a proposal that protects the interests of the PCB and is in line with its mantra of not mixing politics with sports, the release said.

Mani has said in an interview that a final decision on where the Asia Cup will eventually be held will be taken after consultations at the ACC meeting. There is uncertainty over where the Asia Cup will be hosted as the BCCI has made it clear that it will not be sending its team to Pakistan for the Asia Cup because of the prevailing relations between both nations. The release said the PCB will indicate to the ICC in March about the Events it will like to host, while the financial and other guarantees will be submitted in September. It was also announced at the meeting that Barrister Salman Naseer will be the new chief operating officer of the board. He will replace Subhan Ahmed who resigned few months back. The BoG also approved the PCB Financial Statements for the period 2018-2019, which highlighted a significant rise in revenue of about rupees 6 billion.