BCCI withdraws Irfan Pathan, RP Singh NOCs for Bahrain Cricket Festival

Sources say invitations to banned cricketers, S Sreesanth and Mohammad Ashraful of Bangladesh, prompted the BCCI to revoke the NOC to Irfan Pathan and RP Singh for the Bahrain Cricket Festival.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) withdrew the No Objection Certificate issued to Irfan Pathan and RP Singh to participate in a Twenty20 match that was part of the Bahrain Cricket Festival.

RP Singh (R) and Irfan Pathan -- former India cricket team players -- were supposed to play in the match between Irfan Falcons and Misbah Falcons in the Bahrain Cricket Festival T20 event but the BCCI withdrew their NOCs. (Getty Images)

It is learnt that the match between Irfan Falcons and Misbah Falcons was to have taken place on Friday, but BCCI withdrew the NOC before the game, allowing the former India internationals to only support the match from the sidelines.

Sources say invitations to banned players, India’s S Sreesanth and Mohammad Ashraful of Bangladesh prompted the Indian board to revoke the NOC.

The Board rarely allows Indian cricketers to feature in foreign domestic T20 leagues and games. The organisers, led by a relative of Pakistan cricketer Imran Nazir, had reportedly gone overboard with the promotion of the event, which came to everyone’s notice. Allowing Irfan and RP Singh would have forced them to let others too to play, though this was just an exhibition game.

In the absence of Irfan, Irfan Falcons was led by Marlon Samuels.

The organisers came in for criticism from some cricketers as arrangements were not up to the mark and commitments sought were far more than what the players had initially agreed to.

In the heat of summer, the cricketers were asked to reach the ground at 2 pm to be part of the festival. Irfan, it is learnt, refused and reached the venue much later, when the match was to begin.