ACB to deny NOC for franchise cricket to Naveen, Mujeeb and Fazalhaq, IPL participation also in doubt

New Delhi: The cash-rich Cricket league of India, the Indian Premier League, suffered a major blow on Monday, as the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), has banned three of their players from taking part in the competition on the pretext of preferring commercial leaks over national Cricket.

According to the recommendations of a special committee made by the Afghanistan Cricket Board for investigating the case of players opting out of their Central contract, the three Afghani players have been found neglecting their national duties in order to play in franchise cricket around the globe by the committee.

According to the latest media release, the Afghanistan Cricket Board has stated that they have opted not to give NOC (No Objection Certificate), to Naveen Ul Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Fazalhaq Farooqi.

All these players are well-known players in franchise cricket and are often seen participating in one.

However, the Afghanistan Cricket Board’s decision can be serious to franchise cricket around the globe, as other cricket boards can also follow in ACB’s footsteps and start curtailing their players from franchise cricket tournaments.

Afghanistan Cricket Board’s statement

In the official media release, the Afghanistan Cricket Board mentioned that an official action under a special committee was launched against three of their national players that is Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen Ul Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi after these players decided to opt out of the central contract from ACB.

🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨

The ACB has decided to delay the annual central contracts and opt not to grant NOCs to three national players, @Mujeeb_R88, @fazalfarooqi10 and Naveen Ul Haq.

Full Details 👉: https://t.co/FKECO8U7Ba pic.twitter.com/GMDaTzzNNP

— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) December 25, 2023

The release further added that all three players had been found prioritizing the franchise cricket tournament over their duty as national players of Afghanistan and have decided not to give NOCs to these players for the period of the next two years.

IPL teams to get affected

The decision by the Afghanistan Cricket Board will affect franchise cricket everywhere, including the cash-rich franchise cricket tournament of India, i.e., the Indian Premier League.

All three banned players are part of different IPL franchises and are regular players in their teams.

Naveen Ul Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi were retained by the Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad, while Mujeeb Ur Rahman was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping price of INR 2 crores in the 2024 IPL auctions.