Lawyer of banned players to base case on Packer ruling

Altogether 16 players have been banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board after they signed up for the Indian Cricket League, which is not recognized by the ICC member boards.

The lawyer of the Pakistani players banned for signing up with the ICL will base his arguments on the landmark ruling in the case between Kerry Packer and the Australian Cricket Board in the early 1980s.

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The court ruled in the players' favour in that case nearly 30 years ago and lawyer Ali Zafar has sought help from that famous ruling as he thinks there are similarities in the two cases.

Altogether 16 players have been banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board after they signed up for the Indian Cricket League, which is not recognized by the ICC member boards.

Zafar said he was planning to file a petition in the Lahore High Court next week challenging the PCB measures as unconstitutional.

"Basically, the ban on players on playing domestic cricket is unconstitutional as nobody can stop anyone from working even if he has a contract with the party," he said.

The PCB has decided not only to ignore the ICL signatories for national selection but also prevented them from playing in domestic events.

The Board has also refused to issue No-Objection Certificates to ICL players for appearing in English county cricket.

The ICL signatories from Pakistan will play in the second edition of the ICL as a team named 'Lahore Badshahs'.