Afghanistan Squad - (Source: AFP)
In a significant development, the Afghanistan Cricket Board has imposed a heavy ban on three cricketers for playing in the Indian T20 league without permission. Notably, the board has banned these cricketers for four months, during which they won’t be able to participate in any domestic or international matches.
Notably, the Afghanistan cricket board is quite strict when it comes to looking after their players, who mostly feature in overseas leagues across the globe. Therefore, any violations by the players are bound to heavy fines.
Samiullah Shinwari, Aftab Alam, and Shehzad Mohammad Banned By ACB
Talking about the players, then the ACB has come down heavy on Samiullah Shinwari, Aftab Alam, and Shehzad Mohammad for playing the Legends League in India without taking a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the apex cricket board of Afghanistan.
For the unversed, these three Afghanistan cricketers were part of Legends League Cricket, where Samiullah Shinwari’s team, Royal Riders Punjab, emerged winners. Notably, Asgar Afghan was also part of the same team, but the board has not imposed any ban on him as he has alredy hanged his boots from international cricket.
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Meanwhile, Samiullah Shinwari, who has not played a single game for Afghanistan in four years, is yet to retire. Similarly, Aftab Alam and Shehzad Mohammad last played for their nation in 2023.
Why has the ACB Banned 3 Afghanistan Cricketers?
Besides the NOC, ACB is also unhappy with the league that the three cricketers participated in. Notably, the tweet from Jafar Haand, stated that the board members stated that the Legends League is not recognised by the ICC nor by the BCCI, which increases the corruption risk.
"The board says that this league is not officially recognized by the "International Cricket Council or the Indian Board and there is a 'high risk of fraud and corruption' in it," read the tweet.
Players React To Ban From ACB
Notably, the report added that one of the players had approached the ACB before the start of Legends League Cricket. However, the board member kept pushing the NOC and their tommorrow never came. Therefore, the players were left with no other choice to play in the league as they had already committed to LLC's commissioner.
Another reason is that the players have not played for the national team in a long time. Therefore, they didn't fell the need for permisson from the ACB.
Afghanistan Limit 3 Overseas Leagues For Contracted Players
As mentioned above, the ACB is quite strict towards its players. Notably, in the recent years several contracted players have prioritised T20 leagues over international cricket. Therefore, earlier this year, the board had limited every player to play a maximum of just three overseas leagues.
The likes of Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz were heavily impacted by it because they are in most demand.
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