Several Pakistani cricketers could face uncertainty ahead of the Nepal Premier League (NPL), as organisers have alleged that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is demanding a fee of $25,000 (approximately ₹23.73 lakh) for each player to grant permission to participate in the tournament.
According to a leading portal, the PCB has not yet issued No-Objection Certificates (NoCs) to some players. In other cases, players who had already received their NoCs have reportedly been informed that their permissions are now on hold.
The players involved include Pakistan’s T20 captain Sahibzada Farhan, Haider Ali, Hunain Shah, Hussain Talat, Iftikhar Ahmed, Hasan Ali and Usama Mir. Some of these cricketers have already reached Kathmandu but are now stranded without the required NoCs just before the tournament begins. Others who have not travelled yet have put their plans on hold until the matter is resolved. The Nepal Premier League is scheduled to run from October 26 to November 21.
However, the report clarified that it could not independently verify the NPL organisers’ claim regarding the PCB’s alleged financial demand. This is not the first time similar concerns have been raised about the board’s fees for allowing Pakistani players to participate in overseas T20 leagues.
Earlier, owners of franchises in the United States-based Major League Cricket (MLC) had raised similar concerns, alleging that the PCB was demanding $25,000 per player to issue NoCs.
According to local reports at the time, the franchises were not informed about the fee during the recruitment process. The demand reportedly came later, when replacing the selected players was no longer a practical option.
The report also stated that the PCB was the only cricket board seeking such compensation from MLC franchises at the time. There was no publicly available policy explaining these charges. The issue became serious enough for franchise owners to approach PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi. Some of them reportedly described the practice as a form of extortion. Haris Rauf, who played for the San Francisco Unicorns, was the only Pakistani cricketer in the MLC that season. His franchise ultimately agreed to pay the demanded fee.
PCB’s NoC Policy Continues To Cause Problems
The process of obtaining No-Objection Certificates for overseas leagues has remained a major point of disagreement between the PCB and Pakistani cricketers. A possible solution appeared to emerge when PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi announced a new player contract system that included a separate category for T20 specialists. Under this arrangement, players in that category would not even need NoCs to participate in overseas T20 leagues.
However, the new contracts have reportedly not yet been distributed, leaving the issue unresolved. With the Nepal Premier League already scheduled to begin on October 26, the uncertainty surrounding the permissions and alleged fees could create further complications for the Pakistani players hoping to participate in the tournament.
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