Karachi: July 16, 2007 - Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Chief Operating Officer Shafqat Naghmi has said that the board cannot bar those cricketers from playing in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) in India who are not given a central contract.  

“If some former (Pakistani) cricketer or a player who doesn’t have a contract with the PCB decides to play in the series, then we have no way to legally bound him against going to India,” Naghmi said. 

However, he added that the PCB might get involved if the organisers of the ICL approach any players contracted by the board. 

“If any player contracted by us wants to go there, then that would be a different case,” he said. 

Naghmi tried to distance the PCB from the ICL, which is being termed as a parallel league to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), saying “The ICL is happening in another country so it is not our business.”  

He, however, dismissed speculations that the PCB might block their players from figuring in the ICL to please their Indian counterparts, and said that the board has not taken any policy decision on this issue. 

His statement assumes significance as the board is to award central contracts to 20 of their leading cricketers. In addition, the Board would also keep 20-25 players on a retainer, The News reported. 

Former Indian captain Kapil Dev has been appointed as the head of the Executive Board of the Zee Group backed ICL.  

Other members of the Executive Board include former wicketkeeper and ex-chief selector of the BCCI Kiran More, former England captain Tony Greig and Australian cricketer-turned-commentator Dean Jones. 

The Zee Group has announced that the ICL will be set up with a corpus of 100 crore rupees. It would have six teams or clubs in its initial year. 

Within three years, the number of teams would be increased to 16. Each team in the league would have four international players.  

Zee will also appoint talent scouts in all Indian states to hunt for young players to play in the ICL. (ANI)