The participation of Pakistani players in the T20 Global League scheduled to be held in South Africa later in the year might not feature the Pakistan players as Cricket South Africa is still awaiting a response from the Pakistan Cricket Board about the participation of their players in the league. It is learnt that the Pakistan Cricket Board might want their players to participate in their domestic T20 competition.
The Global League in South Africa which is scheduled to start on 3rd November overlaps with Pakistan’s National T20 Cup which is expected to commence from the very next day. On Thursday reports from Pakistan said that they were thinking of calling back their players because their tournament held more priority than other T20 leagues.
“I can say that the National T20 Cup will take precedence over other leagues,” PCB’s Director for Media and Cor-ordination Amjad Hussain said.
CSA refused to comment on this aspect as they are awaiting a response from the PCB to finalise their statement. The domestic tournament of Pakistan was initially scheduled for August but was later shifted to November. As per reports in Cricinfo, the sponsorship rights for the tournament has already been sold and has to be played before the end of the year.
Wahab Riaz, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Nawaz, Fakhar Zaman, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Anwar Ali, Junaid Khan and Imad Wasim were the Pakistan players who were signed in the Global T20 League franchises and two among them Benoni Zalmi, and Durban Qalandars have direct ties with the teams in Pakistan competition of PSL.
Junaid, it was reported, is unaware how his name got into the T20 GL draft. It is learnt that the CSA also attempted to warn their owners over the participation of players in the T20 League as they have already been “booked” for drafts in different T20 competitions already and there is a possibility that they might withdraw their names from the tournament.