Following pay dispute, Pakistan players to return from Afro T20 League

Only recently several Pakistan players were granted a NOC by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to participate in the ongoing Afro T20 league being hosted in Uganda. However, all the eight Pakistan players, including Saeed Ajmal and Imran Khan, found themselves in a pay dispute with the Afro T20 Cricket League organizers and decided to return home without completing the tournament.

Apart from Ajmal and Imran, the six players from Pakistan to play in the tournament were Shahid Yousaf, Yasir Hameed, Raza Hasan, Mukhtar Ahmed, Mohammad Khalil and Humayun Farhat. The league featured several players from other countries as well.

A few days into the tournament, the organizers were not releasing payments for players.The players’ return tickets were also cancelled at one point but according to Ajmal, their flights were rebooked for December 21 after talks with the Uganda Cricket Association (UCA).

The Afro T20 Cricket League features eight teams, which is supported by the Uganda Cricket Association (UCA) and was approved by the ICC, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) stated. The tournament started on December 17 and was slated to run until January 1.

The league had reportedly set USD $50,000 for the winning team with each player having a contractual agreement. Ajmal said he got multiple verbal assurances from the organizers who later flew to Dubai with yet another promise that they were going to arrange the payments and return.

The players were victims of false promise

Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo, Ajmal revealed, “The organizer wasn’t paying us and we insisted on our payments as per the contractual agreement. But he deserted us with a promise that he is going to Dubai to arrange payments and will return but he hasn’t and we decided to return in protest.”

He added, “Our return tickets were blocked and we had informed Uganda Cricket Association and with some pressure, we managed to rebook our return flight for December 21. But we are perfectly fine in Uganda, we are in touch with the Pakistan consulate as well and things are under control.”