The Pakistan Cricket Board reportedly put the no-objection certificates of Pakistani players on hold, casting doubt on their participation in the third season of the Nepal Premier League. As the tournament begins in Kathmandu, a number of players are in limbo due to the development.
Pakistan players’ involvement in NPL Season 3 has been thrown into serious doubt
Sahibzada Farhan, the T20I captain of Pakistan, Haider Ali, Hunain Shah, Hussain Talat, Iftikhar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, and Usama Mir are among the players impacted. The Nepal Premier League schedule does not coincide with any planned international assignment, and none of these cricket players are currently included in Pakistan’s ODI or Test squads.
Eight teams will compete across venues in Kathmandu during the third season of the Nepal Premier League, which runs from October 26 to November 21. When the NOC situation surfaced, some of the Pakistani players who were scheduled to play had already left for Kathmandu, while others decided to postpone travel until the issue was settled.
Reporters were informed by people with ties to the Nepal Premier League that the PCB demanded payment for each NOC granted to a Pakistani player; the amount is thought to be around USD 25,000 per cricket player. Nevertheless, unable to verify that the league received a written request of this kind. Cricinfo’s request for comment was not immediately answered by the PCB, and it is still unclear whether the fee is the main point of contention or if there are other administrative considerations at work.
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The PCB’s new central contract structure, which was unveiled earlier in 2026 and introduced what was referred to as a format track D designation for T20 specialists, adds to the uncertainty. Players in that category would theoretically be free to participate in as many T20 leagues as they wanted under that framework, as long as their commitments did not conflict with any international duty the board mandated.
None of the seven players named in the NPL dispute are currently included in Pakistan’s ODI or Test plans, even though the PCB has not publicly stated which contract track any of the impacted Pakistani players fall under and it is unclear whether the new structure has officially taken effect.
