Pakistan players might opt out of T20 Global League after BPL

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently announced its own National T20 competition in November which overlaps with T20 Global League. Reports recently surfaced about the Pakistani players opting out of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) which also collides with the date of the competition.

The Board has been affirmative about National T20 Cup taking precedence over any other league. The two leagues involve a major contingent of Pakistani players. If things start to pan out the way PCB demands, the likes of Wahab Riaz, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Nawaz, Fakhar Zaman, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Anwar Ali, Junaid Khan and Imad Wasim might miss out of the much hyped South African League.

Furthermore, two of the eight franchises (Benoni Zalmi – three Pakistani players and the Durban Qalandars- two players) have a direct link with Pakistan Super League. Should none of these players are unavailable, the franchises have the option of choosing from the unsold players in the recent draft.

The T20 Global League starts from November 3 while the National T20 is scheduled to start the very next day. PCB scheduled to host the tournament in the month of August but was moved to November. As the sponsorship rights have been sold, the tournament should be hosted by the end of the year. CSA refused to comment on the issue and are currently awaiting clarity from the PCB.

“I can say that the National T20 Cup will take precedence over other leagues,”, commented the director for media and coordination of PCB, Amjad Hussain, according to Cricinfo.com.

Curious Case of Junaid Khan

There lies a huge conflict of interest between the common Pakistani players in both T20 Global League and BPL. One of those players is Pakistan pacer Junaid Khan who was picked up by the Nelson Mandela Bay Stars even after existing contract with the Khulna Titans in the Bangladesh Premier League.

Junaid Khan, however, claimed that he was unaware of the draft. CSA did its part to warn the owners about the possibility of these players being forced to withdraw from the South African league. All players who entered their names in the draft for the T20 GL signed binding agreements that they would participate only in the T20 GL at that time.