Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen among 13 players granted NOCs for franchise leagues

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday, granted a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to 13 national cricketers, including the senior trio of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi, to participate in different overseas franchise leagues.

Babar, Rizwan and Shaheen, who were the notable absentees from Pakistan’s squad for the home T20I series against Bangladesh, registered for the Big Bash League (BBL) draft, scheduled to take place on June 19.

As a result, the cricket board has issued NOC to the trio from December 14 to 28.

Meanwhile, former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir, who is currently representing Essex in the T20 Blast, was granted the NOC until July 18.

Pakistan’s frontline pacer Haris Rauf was given the NOC to participate in the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025, scheduled to commence on Friday.

Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood was granted the NOC to represent Leicestershire in the County Championship until September 1.

Besides him, three Pakistan pacers, Mohammad Abbas, Hasan Ali and Khurram Shahzad are also participating in the County Championship.

Abbas’s NOC is valid until July 2, while Hasan and Shahzad would remain eligible until September 30 and 27, respectively.

All-rounder Mohammad Nawaz received the NOC to participate in the Guyana Super League and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), for which Mohammad Hassan Khan has also received the green signal from the PCB.

Emerging top-order batter Khawaja Nafay was granted permission to participate in the Global Super League.