KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board said on Saturday that it had received no objection from its Indian counterpart on clearing Mushtaq Ahmed and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan to play in English county championship despite their affiliation with the unofficial Indian Cricket League (ICL).
Asked about media reports that the Indian board secretary Niranjan Shah had said he would talk to the Pakistan and English boards about ICL players being permitted to play in county cricket, Shafqat Naghmi, the chief operating officer of the PCB, said it had heard nothing from the Indians. "They have not contacted us on this issue and as it is I don't think we are in a position to stop any ICL player from playing in county or shield cricket if their teams want them to play," he added.
Naghmi was clearly not happy when asked if the Indian board had been consulted before allowing the clearance to the ICL players for county cricket. "This is something that concerns Pakistan cricket," he stated. Naghmi said the PCB had not changed its policy on the ICL players and they remained ineligible to play in any tournament in Pakistan.
"Nor are they centrally contracted to us now. But if they want to go and play in some other country we have no binding even morally to stop them," he stated.
