The Pakistan Cricket Board and the organisers of the Abu Dhabi T10 League have reached an agreement over No-Objection Certificates for Pakistani cricketers, clearing the way for 16 of them to play in the tournament that begins on November 7. Under the deal, the league organisers will provide the board with compensation and facilities worth up to 200,000 dollars, ending a standoff that had put the players’ participation in doubt only days before the first ball.
The breakthrough came after several franchises and players approached the PCB asking for their certificates, and the board then discussed the matter with the relevant authorities before settling on an amicable solution. It was a late resolution to a dispute that had been building since the player draft on September 30, when 16 Pakistani cricketers were picked by five of the six participating teams.
Salman Irshad was picked by the Arabian Aces, while the Emirates Eagles selected Akif Javed, Hasan Nawaz and Ali Raza. Naseem Shah was drafted by the Royal Desert Champions. The UAE Bulls secured Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Khawaja Nafay, Khushdil Shah, Azam Khan and Mohammad Wasim Jr, while the United Tigers picked Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Sufyan Moqeem and Abbas Afridi. Losing them would have hurt both the teams and the event.
The trouble began when the PCB held back the certificates and, according to a report by ESPNcricinfo, demanded 10,000 dollars per player. Although the league organisers had submitted the NOC applications shortly after the September 30 draft, the board reportedly communicated its financial demand only at the beginning of this week. The late demand left franchises facing extra expense or the possibility of replacing their Pakistani players at the last moment, and some cricketers were reportedly willing to cover the fees from their own salaries if their teams refused to pay.
The tournament itself is now set to run from November 7 to November 20 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, with six franchises playing 32 matches in the tenth season of the competition. The six teams are the UAE Bulls, Yas Lions, Royal Desert Champions, Emirates Eagles, United Tigers and Arabian Aces, and each will play ten matches in a double round-robin league stage, with November 12 set aside as a rest day. The team that finishes top of the standings will qualify directly for the final, while the second and third placed teams will meet in a qualifier on November 20.
Defending champions UAE Bulls, led by West Indies star Kieron Pollard, will open their title defence against Jason Holder’s Yas Lions on the first day, and all six teams will be in action on the opening day. The event is being staged under new ownership this year, with the Abu Dhabi Cricket and Sports Hub taking charge with support from the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and the Emirates Cricket Board, and the organisers will be relieved the dispute was settled before the opening ceremony.
This is not the first time the PCB’s certificate policy has caused trouble. A similar dispute flared up last month around the Nepal Premier League, when the board reportedly demanded 25,000 dollars per player for NOCs. Hussain Talat and Jahandad Khan continued their participation in Nepal, but several other Pakistani cricketers returned home without playing a match. The pattern has become familiar: a league drafts Pakistani players, the board asks for a fee, and the players wait to learn whether they will be allowed to travel.
The policy itself goes back several years, to around the launch of the International League T20 in the UAE, when the board began seeking payments from leagues where it believed opportunities for Pakistani players were not being reciprocated. The fee has varied from league to league and from year to year, which is part of the frustration for franchises, who cannot budget for a charge that is only revealed after the draft. The board, for its part, sees the certificates as leverage in a crowded franchise market where Pakistani players are in demand but Pakistan’s own leagues receive little in return.
For the 16 players, the agreement is a relief and an opportunity. A T10 tournament is a short, sharp shop window, where a bowler can make a reputation in a single over and a batter can do it in a dozen balls, and the Abu Dhabi event has a strong broadcast audience. Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan are established names, but for younger players like Akif Javed, Ali Raza and Sufyan Moqeem, two weeks in Abu Dhabi could open doors to other leagues and contracts.
The wider question is whether this deal becomes a template or remains a one-off. The 200,000 dollars in compensation and facilities gives the PCB something it can point to, and it gives the league certainty for this season, but the underlying tension has not gone away. The next time a league drafts Pakistani players, both sides will remember this week, and the players will be hoping that the negotiation happens before the draft rather than in the final days before the tournament begins.
