Pakistan players still await Abu Dhabi T10 NOCs three days out from the league
A file photograph of Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi — not a photograph of a 2026 T10 League match.
ABU DHABI: The Abu Dhabi T10 League is three days away and a clutch of Pakistan cricketers still do not know whether they will be allowed to play in it. The 2026 edition — the tenth, and the first since the tournament changed ownership — runs from 7 to 20 November with six teams, but sources told Geo Super on Tuesday that several Pakistan players were still waiting on No-Objection Certificates from the Pakistan Cricket Board. Their franchises, the same reports say, have been pressing them to get clearance sorted at the earliest, because the alternative is blunt: miss out, and be replaced.
Who is signed where?
Fakhar Zaman was signed directly by United Tigers, and he will have Abbas Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Iftikhar Ahmed and Faheem Ashraf alongside him in that squad. UAE Bulls picked up Khushdil Shah, Khawaja Nafay, Shadab Khan, Azam Khan, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Wasim Jr. Naseem Shah is with Royal Desert Champions, Salman Irshad with Arabian Aces, and Emirates Eagles signed Hasan Nawaz, Akif Javed and Ali Raza. All of them came through the players’ draft in Abu Dhabi on 30 September, and the wait for paperwork has stretched on ever since.
What about the reported $10,000 fee?
Separate reports have put a price on the delay: $10,000 per player for an NOC, with the league’s organisers refusing to pay it and players told to foot the bill themselves or sit the tournament out. That figure needs handling with care. It does not appear in the Geo Super or A-Sports reports, which stick to the wait itself and the replacement warning, and the PCB has not commented on it. What is not in doubt is the shape of the standoff — a board that controls the clearance, franchises that will not wait forever, and players caught in the middle days before a tournament they have already signed for.
Why does this feel familiar?
Because it has happened before, recently. The Nepal Premier League row involved a reported $25,000-per-player demand, and Pakistani players ended up replaced in that tournament. Afterwards, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi announced a separate contract category for T20 specialists who would not need NOCs to play overseas leagues — an announcement that was supposed to end exactly this kind of uncertainty. The Abu Dhabi wait suggests it has not, at least not yet. The next few days will settle it one way or the other: NOCs in hand before 7 November, or new names on the team sheets.
