January 05, 2008	Saturday	Zilhaj 25, 1428

LAHORE, Jan 4: The six cricketers banned from playing domestic cricket by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for joining the Indian Cricket League (ICL) have decided to wait before fighting the decision in court.

“We filed a petition through our lawyer Imran Qureshi in the Lahore High Court to get a stay order against the decision on Friday because we wanted to play for Habib Bank Limited in the final of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy which starts on Monday, but after the learned judge deferred the decision till Monday, we reconsidered our option of going to court and decided to wait for the Governing Board’s decision,” one of the banned cricketers, Imran Farhat, told Dawn on Friday. The other five banned players are Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shabbir Ahmed, Azhar Mahmood, Abdul Razzaq and Taufiq Umar.

“We can now afford to wait for the Governing Board’s decision regarding the matter as we also have enough time before the Pentangular Cup which is scheduled to start next month. Therefore we have advised our lawyer to act accordingly,” he added.

“The decision to wait for the Governing Board meeting was unanimous,” said Taufeeq Umar.

The PCB had earlier referred its decision of banning the players to the Governing Board, which is expected to take up the matter in its next meeting scheduled for Jan 25 in Karachi.

The PCB has stuck to its decision of banning players despite failing to produce any positive results as more cricketers here are showing interest in joining the ICL even after the possibility of not being allowed to play Pakistan cricket.

And with Mohammad Yousuf’s case before them, no banned cricketer has the courage to reject the ICL. The prolific batsman had also signed up with the ICL but after being offered a good amount from the PCB, he preferred to disaffiliate himself from the league. Now the ICL and Yousuf are engaged in a legal battle in India. The arbitration court’s order says that until a proper decision is reached, Yousuf will not be allowed to play in the Indian Premier League, a venture of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Imran Farhat was hopeful the Governing Board would consider their case on merit and allow them to at least represent their departmental teams in the domestic matches.