The Pakistan Cricket Team is currently struggling badly across all formats. Under the newly appointed captain of Shan Masood, Pakistan suffered another whitewash 0-3 in the 3-match Test series on Australian soil as they have not won any test since 1995. Shaheen Shah Afridi was appointed the T20I captain replacing Babar Azam. They looked out of sorts losing to New Zealand by 1-4 in the recently concluded series.
Salman Butt said that PCB must resolve the situation of giving NOC’s players taking part in franchise leagues. Pakistan Cricket Board revoked handing NOCs to a few players featured in the franchise-based T20 leagues. Shaheen Shah Afridi, Babar Azam, and Shahbad Khan were approved to play International League T20 and Bangladesh Premier League.
Babar Azam has gone feature in the Bangladesh Premier League after finishing commitments with Pakistan. Pakistan young wicketkeeper batter Mohammed Harris NOC was stopped by PCB forcing him to return from the Bangladesh Premier League 2024.
Talking on his youtube channel, Salman Butt said “It is like an unfair distribution of wealth by a family member, where one kid gets more while the other one gets less. A few players are feeling left out because they haven’t received NOCs, whereas some other players have. This is an issue that needs to be solved.”
The likes of Saim Ayub, Ifkthar Ahmed, and Fakhar Zaman were not given NOCs by the Pakistan Cricket Board as they took part in two leagues since August 2023.
Pakistan players struggling with injuries
Pakistan players have not been able to perform well in international cricket for the last 6 months. Naseem Shah played in the Sri Lanka Premier League 2023, featuring in 2 matches against Sri Lanka. He featured in the first few matches in Asia Cup 2023 before suffering an injury during the Super 4 match against India.
Shah missed out on the Asia Cup 2023 finals spot and did not feature in the World Cup 2023. He could not recover to play 3 Test matches in Australia. They need to make sure that the PCB gives importance to national cricket and hopes to perform well in the upcoming T20 World Cup.
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