Pakistan batter Mohammad Haris would consider himself unlucky as his NOC was revoked after getting it to play in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). However, Haris got to know about the cancellation after landing in Bangladesh and had to return back to Pakistan. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) restricts its players to feature in only two more franchise leagues apart from its own – Pakistan Super League (PSL) – and for Haris, it would have been a third if he featured for the Chattogram Challengers in the 2024 edition of the BPL.
In the period from July 2023 to July 2024, Haris featured in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) and Global T20 Canada for B-Love Kandy and Surrey Jaguars respectively and hence exhausted his quota of playing in overseas leagues for this period. Haris was naturally disappointed, which he shared it on his Instagram story as well and thanked his BPL franchise Chattogram for arranging his return back home.
“Thank you, Chattogram team management and the BCB for taking care of me and giving me this opportunity. “I also flew in on time to prepare myself to give some great games to my fans in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, my NOC was not issued. Hence, I will not play any games. I knew my team needed me. Hopefully, I will join them next year. I will definitely miss playing the BPL,” Haris was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
Similarly, the likes of Shaheen Afridi, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf and Fakhar Zaman all received their NOCs to participate in ILT20 and BPL. Shaheen Afridi is the only one of them to participate in the ILT20 as he is set to play for the Desert Vipers and will join Mohammad Amir and Azam Khan among compatriots.
Pakistan suffered a 1-4 loss to New Zealand in the five-match T20 series.