LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday gave permission to chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq to purchase any team of the proposed T-10 League besides allowing him to become the mentor of Lahore Qalandars, one of the five outfits of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), under certain conditions.

Apart from Inzamam, National Cricket Academy (NCA) bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed has also been allowed to coach a team of the T-10 League which will be held in Sharjah from Dec 21-24, well-informed sources told Dawn.

Inzamam met with chairman PCB Najam Sethi here on Thursday, requesting him to grant permission for the two projects.

The burly former captain informed the PCB chairman that Lahore Qalandars are interested in hiring him as mentor and he is also keen to jointly purchase a team in the upcoming T-10 league with one of his cousins.

However, the sources said that the PCB conditionally allowed Inazamam to undertake both the projects. According to the sources, Inzamam was told by Sethi that during his role as mentor of the Lahore Qalandars, he will not be getting his monthly salary from the PCB.

Furthermore, Inzamam will not be allowed to sit in the players’ draft or in the dugouts like Sir Vivan Richards - the mentor of the Quetta Gladiators.

Similarly, Mushtaq’s salary will also be deducted during his coaching period with the T10 league team, the sources further said.

Sources further said that in the first attempt, the PCB did not allow Inzamam to be involved in any other activity which was annoying for Inzamam as the former captain is very passionate about having a role in the T-10 league which could also become very popular in the future like the T20 games.

The sources added that the PCB does not feel that Inzamam’s new roles could fall under the ‘conflict of interest’ clause as both the events - PSL and the T-10 league - are shorter period events.

“If the PCB feels Inzamam’s services are needed for the national team during the period of the two events, the chief selector will be asked to report for national duty, the sources said.

It may be mentioned here that Pakistan team’s head coach Mickey Arthur is also the coach of PSL outfit Karachi Kings, so it would not have been possible to restrict Inzamam from his involvement in the two projects since he is on the PCB’s pay roll as consultant.

Arthur, before joining the national team, had informed the PCB that he would continue his role as coach of the Karachi Kings, too and his demand was accepted by the PCB.

The T-10 league is being held in Sharjah next month in which retired cricketers from around the world including Shahid Afridi, Virender Sehwag, Kumar Sangakara and Eoin Morgan are also participating.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2017