Reports published on November 4 say the Pakistan Cricket Board is seeking $10,000 for every player who needs a No Objection Certificate to play in the Abu Dhabi T10 League, and that the league organisers have refused to pay. The players, the reports say, have been told to pay the amount from their own pockets if they want to take part. The league starts on November 7, three days from now. The board has not commented on the reported fee. Yesterday it was a wait. Today it has a price tag: who pays?
The bill, in plain numbers
The reported fee is $10,000 per player. The new report names eight contracted Pakistan internationals among the players affected: Shadab Khan, Naseem Shah, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Irshad, Sufyan Moqim, Iftikhar Ahmed, Abbas Afridi and Faheem Ashraf. If each of those eight paid the reported fee himself, the total would be $80,000. The 16 Pakistanis still waiting for T10 clearance counted from Geo Super’s team lists on November 3 would face a combined bill of $160,000 if the same fee applied to every one of them. Whether it applies to all 16 is not yet reported. Franchises would pay per player, and organisers say they will not pay at all.
The six team tournament runs from November 7 to 20, its tenth edition. The players were picked in the draft held in Abu Dhabi on September 30, now 35 days behind us. The fee report arrives when replacing a player is still possible but rushed.
Cheaper than Nepal, still refused
The $10,000 figure looks smaller than the fee reported in two earlier disputes, and that is why the refusal is revealing. During the Nepal Premier League, organisers alleged that the board demanded $25,000 for each player’s certificate. ESPNcricinfo reported permissions withheld for Farhan, Haider Ali, Hunain Shah, Iftikhar Ahmed and Hasan Ali. In Major League Cricket in the United States, franchise owners raised the same $25,000 allegation, with one owner saying the demand came when replacement was no longer viable. Haris Rauf was the only Pakistan player in that MLC season, after the San Francisco Unicorns agreed to pay.
Against that history, $10,000 is $15,000 less per player, or 40 percent of the $25,000 figure. A cheaper fee has still been refused. That tells us the dispute is not only about the number. It is about who is expected to pay, and when the demand appears. In each case the fee is reported after contracts were signed, not disclosed during recruitment, according to the franchise accounts. A signed player must now pay from his own money, wait, or lose his place.
The promised fix that has not arrived
There was supposed to be a way out of this cycle. Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi later announced a separate contract category for T20 specialists, who would not need certificates to play in overseas leagues. The problem is timing. The new report says those separate contracts have yet to be distributed, and the board has yet to clarify its position on the fees or on when the contracts will be introduced. A short clarification on who pays would let franchises budget and players decide.
Three days, two calendars
The domestic calendar makes the wait harder to explain away. The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy opener that began on November 3 runs its first round from November 3 to 6. Pakistan’s Test series against Sri Lanka starts on November 9, inside the T10 window, and the board revoked conditional T10 certificates in 2019 to protect the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. No official has linked the calendar to the hold, but it explains why a rubber stamp cannot be assumed.
The overlap is sharpest for one player. Hasan Nawaz appears on the Emirates Eagles list for the T10 and in the Shaheens squad for the Rising Stars Asia Cup in Doha from November 19 to 29, with Samad leading the Shaheens title defence in Doha. Fakhar Zaman’s case is different but just as awkward. He is the Tigers icon signing, and replacing an icon is not a like for like swap.
Three tests before the first ball
Three checks will settle this story before November 7. First, does the board say in public who is expected to pay? Second, does a clearance list appear by November 6, and for which names? Third, do the November 7 team sheets show Pakistan players or replacements?
Until then, the honest summary is narrow and checkable. Reports say the fee is $10,000 per player, the organisers have refused to pay it, the players have been told to pay it themselves or sit out, and the board has not commented. The league starts in three days. For more sports news from Pakistan, PakMirror will follow the clearance list as soon as it appears.
