LAHORE: Pakistan ace batter Babar Azam, wicket-keeper batter Mohamamd Rizwan and fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi have been declined No Objection Certificate (NOC) to take part in Global T20 franchise cricket in Canada.
In an update by the PCB on players’ NOC requests for the Global T20 here on Friday night,it was said that the PCB had received NOC requests from Babar Azam, Muhammad 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 three are all-format cricketers and their services was expected to be required in the upcoming eight months during which Pakistan will play nine Tests,14 ODIs and nine T20Is.In line with the PCB’
s workload management policy,it was 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.he added.
Earlier,the PCB had also declined permission to Naseem Shah for the hundred on the same grounds.
In the meantime, the PCB has approved NOCs for Asif Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Muhammad Amir, and Muhammad Nawaz. The four players was predominantly white-ball cricketers, while Iftikhar and Nawaz are centrally contracted players,he concluded.