Pak 'rebels' spurn PCB offer, say to remain in ICL

Pakistani cricketers, who have played in the inaugural Indian Cricket League, have spurned the olive branch offered by the PCB to come to its fold by ditching the 'rebel' league.

Test discards Imran Farhat, Taufiq Umar and Shabbir Ahmed remained adamant and said they would not break their contracts with ICL despite PCB's assurance to lift the ban from appearing in domestic cricket if they promise not to play anymore in the Essel Group promoted league.

"No I can't do that. It is not the honourable thing to do. I took a decision to sign the contract and I will stand by it. We have legal avenues available to fight the PCB ban," Farhat said.

The former opening batsman denied that a petition filed by him and other players challenging PCB's ban has been dismissed by the court

"There is no way they can stop us from playing domestic cricket. And they have been saying the court dismissed our petition but that is not true we withdrew the petition ourselves hoping the board would at its governing body lift the ban," he said.

Farhat, who had played 27 Tests for Pakistan, also ruled out seeking any help from the International Cricket Council, saying it could do nothing as it was an internal matter of the board.

Taufiq Umar said the players had committed no crime playing in the ICL and would not go back on their contracts.

"They are just being personal with us and nothing else. But we will decide soon what we can do to fight this injustice," he said.

Shabbir Ahmed said the board was trying to come down hard on them as it faced a real threat from the ICL.

"They (PCB) know more and more players will go sooner or later and they are worried that is why they are trying to scare out the others so that they don't go at all," he said.

After a governing body meeting on January 25, PCB had decided to continue the ban on former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, Imran Farhat, Abdul Razzaq, Taufiq Umar, Shabbir Ahmed and Azhar Mahmood from playing any domestic cricket after they played in the inaugural ICL tournament last month.

Source : http://www.hindustantimes.com/