No Pakistani players in BPL

The second edition of the Bangladesh Premier League will be go ahead without any Pakistan player participating, a fallout of the BCB cancelling a proposed tour of Pakistan twice. The PCB has refused to issue No Objection Certificates (NOC) to any of its players who were picked by the seven franchises in the Twenty20 league which starts on Friday.

"PCB's Subhan Ahmed has told BCB that no Pakistan players will be given NOCs," Jalal Yunus, the BCB spokesman, said in Dhaka.

The BCB had decided to will wait till 10am (0400 GMT) today for the PCB to give NOCs, required to be issued by a player's home board to enable him to take part in overseas leagues. "We will wait till 10am and if the PCB doesn't reply, the tournament will go on as per schedule without the Pakistani players," BPL chairman Afzalur Rahman Sinha had said on Tuesday. "We won't bow down to any demand and have decided to carry on. We have already informed that to the franchises and asked them to arrange similar-quality players to replace them."

The negotiations between the two boards reached a tipping point after the PCB continued to seek a confirmation from the BCB regarding a tour to Pakistan. The BCB has played a waiting game after cancelling a trip for the second time on December 31. After BCB president Nazmul Hassan met his Pakistani counterpart Zaka Ashraf on January 6, the BCB decided to send a second security team but that too has not gone down well in Pakistan.

The seven franchises have been told to seek replacements from among the players who were unsold in the auction, or else find players from outside the list. With two days left before the tournament begins, it is unlikely that the franchises will be able to find enough players to replace the Pakistan cricketers, so popular in Bangladesh. Khulna Royal Bengals is the franchise most hit, as they had bought the services of Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Awais Zia, Umar Amin, Ahmed Shehzad, Haris Sohail and Bilawal Bhatti.