PCB has finally issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to three Pakistani players Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan, and Usama Mir to play Big Bash League (BBL) in Australia.
NOC has only been issued for specific matches and does not apply to the entire tournament. On the given NOC, Haris Rauf and Usama Mir are granted permission to play five matches and Zaman Khan is allowed to play four matches.
The board in its statement said they have given “limited permission” to multiple players to play in the Australian Big Bash League.
“This decision is in the best interests of all the stakeholders involved while balancing the importance of game time with workload management,” the board’s press release said.
Haris Rauf and Usama will play from Melbourne Stars, meanwhile, Zaman Khan will play from Syndey Thunders.
These NOCs are given for a limited period between December 7th and December 28th, 2023.
Read more: Haris Rauf denies pulling out from Australian series last minute
Earlier, Haris Rauf had upset many in the Pakistan cricket fraternity for refusing to be a part of the upcoming Test series against Australia. His exclusion from the squad left many in shock. Upon asking Chief Selector Wahab Riaz that Rauf pulled out from the Test series last minute.
Pakistani pacer Haris Rauf has denied the reports of withdrawing from the Australian Test series tour last minute as claimed by Chief Selector Wahab Riaz.
“We spoke to Haris Rauf about this tour two days ago, and he gave his consent to playing Tests for Pakistan. However, he changed his mind last night and didn’t want to be a part of this Australia Test series,” Riaz said.
“He was worried about fitness issues and workload. We gave him assurances that we would facilitate him and accept any potential failures. Our physio said he has no injury concerns. He is fatigued, but we could have managed him well. However, he pulled out and is unavailable for this tour. I think this could hurt Pakistan cricket,” he added.
However, as per the latest reports, a close source to Haris Rauf says that the bowler had never expressed his interest to play the red-ball cricket. The source said that the pacer solely wants to focus on white-ball cricket. With T20 World Cup, a few months away, he wants to focus on his fitness and improving his skills.