BCCI withdraws Yusuf Pathan's NOC for Hong Kong T20 event

BCCI has withdrawn Yusuf Pathan's NOC to take part in the Hong Kong T20 Blitz tournament.

Yusuf Pathan will no longer be a part of the Hong Kong Blitz event.

BCCI has withdrawn Yusuf Pathan's NOC to take part in the Hong Kong T20 Blitz tournament.

It was a surprise in first place, when the NOC was given, and it had meant that Pathan migh become the first Indian to take part in a T20 tournament outside India.

BCCI has never provided a NOC to its players for any venture that is even remotely seen as competition to its own money-spinning Indian Premier League (IPL).

According to a report, when other players started applying for permission to play in other T20 leagues, that's when the decision makers had to rethink, and withdraw the permission.

Pathan had earlier expressed his happiness at being part of the league, "This would be a good opportunity to get into the groove before the IPL, because international cricketers — Shahid Afridi, Tymal Mills, Darren Sammy to name a few — are playing the tournament. I played the 50-over domestic tournaments in Bangladesh and Kenya after last year’s IPL and the people at the Hong Kong T20 event had been in touch with me for the last three months,” he said.

Although BCCI has not officially released any statement, but one of the officials was quoted as saying that Pathan shouldn't have been given the permission in the first place. “Indian players have a brand name. Indian players playing in league will attract Indian viewers. It would also mean that our sponsors too want to invest in other leagues. That is why we will be not allowing any Indian players to be part of any leagues,”

Pathan was set to play for the Kowloon Cantons.in the Hong Kong T20 Blitz.