Pakistan cricketers, including Abdul Razzaq and Yasir Hameed, have announced their retirements from international cricket in order to obtain Non-Objection Certificates (NOC) to play in the inaugural Masters Champions League (MCL) tournament in the UAE.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) asked players to submit their retirement in writing, freeing them up to compete in lucrative Twenty20 competition with no more strings attached over whether or not they may play international cricket again in the future.
The big names that have announced their retirement include Razzaq, Hameed and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan while there are reports that opening batsman Taufiq Umar will retire too so that he can participate in the MCL.
In addition, one-time Test cricketers Mohammad Khalil and Humayun Farhat have also called time on their Pakistan careers.
“I’ve decided to retire from all forms of the game for Pakistan so that I can join the MCL to make a living,” Hameed, who played 25 Tests and made 56 one-day internationals appearances, told Sport360.
“We need to earn as cricketers because at the end of the day we have families and cricket is our only bread and butter. If I would have been selected in the Pakistan Super League, I would have stayed but now the MCL is a platform where I can earn well for myself and my family.
“It’s disappointing to retire in such a manner because I was still hopeful of a comeback into the team.”
The PCB had earlier issued a clarification that the players wanting to play in the MCL, the tournament which clashes partly in dates with the PSL, should announce their retirement from international cricket.
The board stated that in view of requests for NOCs from various Pakistan cricketers, it will issue them only to those players who have announced and confirmed their irrevocable resignation and retirement from international cricket on behalf of Pakistan in writing to the PCB.
It added that such cricketers will, however, remain eligible to play in domestic cricket as per the rules of the agreement.
The PCB explained that because the MCL tournament is taking place at the same venues and on some of the same dates as the PSL in the UAE, the board formulated a policy to govern the participation of Pakistani players in the MCL, given the fact the league poses a direct competition to the PSL.
