The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) granted “limited” no-objection certificates (NOCs) to multiple Pakistani cricketers to play in Australia’s Big Bash League on Monday. The board gave Haris Rauf, Usama Mir, and Zaman Khan NOCs to play in Australia’s premier league “considering the workload of players and the future tours programme of the national men’s team”.
For BBL 13, PCB grants ‘limited’ NOCs to players from Pakistan
The board only authorized “specific matches” and the NOCs do not cover the entire tournament.
“This decision is in the best interests of all the stakeholders involved while balancing the importance of game time with workload management,” the board’s release said.
Rauf (Melbourne Stars), Pakistan’s pace attack leader, can play five matches. Mir (Melbourne Stars) and Khan (Sydney Thunders) have NOCs for five and four matches, respectively. Also, NOCs are allocated within a certain timeframe to balance participation and national commitments.
National cricketers can play in Australia’s top tournament from December 7-28. Following Rauf’s clearance, Melbourne Stars will be relieved. Plus, they called England’s Olly Stone to replace Rauf, who had already joined Melbourne for the BBL.
Stars signed recently retired Pakistani star Imad Wasim to replace England’s Liam Dawson. Melbourne Stars General Manager Blair Crouch said, “With Liam available for the first three matches, we identified Wasim as a player who could come in and perform a role for us with his left-arm spin and lengthen our batting lineup.”
“I’m really looking forward to seeing lots of Pakistan fans in the crowd at the MCG. Thus, it was with Imad joining his former national teammates, Usama Mir and Haris Rauf.”
The Melbourne Stars’ BBL 13 roster includes Scott Boland, Joe Burns, Hilton Cartwright, Brody Couch, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Liam Dawson (England). Sam Harper, Campbell Kellaway, Nick Larkin, Glenn Maxwell, Usama Mir, Joel Paris. Haris Rauf, Tom Rogers, Mark Steketee, Marcus Stoinis, Imad Wasim, and Beau Webster.
The 2023 BBL runs from December 7 to January 24.
