On Saturday (July 13), it emerged that Pakistan fast bowler Naseem Shah will not get an NOC from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in order to participate in The Hundred in England. The NOC is mandatory for all overseas players to play in domestic tournaments across the world.

Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen likely to be denied NOCs for GT20 Canada

Earlier this month, the PCB had released a list of players who had been granted NOCs for various leagues, including the Lanka Premier League, Major League Cricket and the Caribbean Premier League. Notably, Saim Ayub and Azam Khan were denied NOCs for the latter despite being retained by their franchise, Guyana Amazon Warriors.

A report from ESPNCricinfo has now stated that it appears the PCB will not be granting NOCs to a few prominent all-format players for the Global T20 (GT20) league in Canada that begins on July 25. NOCs for this tournament had not been mentioned in the PCB's original list, while there was a reason: "The Global T20 is yet to be approved by the ICC. After the event receives the status of an Approved Event, the PCB will consider NOC requests from the players."

The GT20 has not yet been sanctioned by the ICC, but the report states that even if it is, the PCB are unlikely to issue NOCs to Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi. The board is reportedly concerned about workload management, and want the three star players to be rested ahead of Pakistan's Test series against Bangladesh which begins on August 21.

Packed national team schedule likely to affect future NOCs as well

According to the terms of the central contracts these players have signed with the PCB, they are permitted to play in two overseas leagues per season (in addition to the Pakistan Super League) as long as those leagues do not clash with any international commitments.

Cricinfo's report further states that the PCB will not entertain any NOC request from all-format players between October 2024 and May 2025, owing to the busy schedule of the men's national team in that timeframe. Pakistan are scheduled to play 37 matches across all formats in those seven months, in addition to the Champions Trophy. April and May have also been pencilled in for the Pakistan Super League.

Given that the contract clause of 'PSL plus two' was inserted for the very same reason of workload management, repeated denial of NOCs is likely to cause some friction between the board and players, given the earnings they will lose out on. However, the PCB does reserve the right to deny NOCs to players if they feel issuing them would not be in the best interest of the national team.

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