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Pakistan stars pay price for joining rebel Indian league

Pakistan cricket authorities announced yesterday that all players who featured in a rebel Indian league will be banned from domestic matches.

Several stars signed up to play in the breakaway Indian Cricket League (ICL) despite warnings of future restrictions.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) communications director Ahsan Malik said the ICL players were now ineligible to play in PCB-organized events.

The rebel players have just returned from India, where the inaugural Twenty20 ICL championship was held.

"We have added a clause to the domestic playing conditions rule, according to which any player featuring in any unauthorized event in Pakistan or abroad will not be eligible to play in our events," Malik said.

The rebel players, including Inzamam, Abdul Razzaq, Imran Farhat, Shabbir Ahmed and Azhar Mahmood, were blocked from the last round of domestic tournament matches which began yesterday.

The breakaway Twenty20 ICL is not recognized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or the International Cricket Council.

Inzamam played his last Test -- against South Africa in October -- after signing with the ICL. He quit Test cricket after the match and said he has no intention of returning to first-class cricket.

Farhat said the players would defy the ban.

"It's not on, the PCB cannot stop us from playing and from earning our livelihood," he said.

Farhat said he and some of his ICL colleagues are meeting a lawyer to take the matter to court.
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