The Pakistan Cricket Board demanded $25,000 for a No Objection Certificate just hours before a match in Major League Cricket’s second season, telling the franchise that the player’s NOC would be processed only if the payment reached their bank account before the first ball was bowled.
One MLC team that season had four Pakistani players. The PCB charged the franchise for three of their NOCs. The fourth was missed. When the oversight was discovered, the board did not issue the NOC quietly. It demanded another $25,000 at the last possible moment, with the match minutes away.
“There were four Pakistani players for one of the teams, but the PCB forgot about the fourth player and asked for three payments of $25,000. They then extorted another $25,000 for the fourth player for an NOC just a few hours before a match was to be played. That team was wiring the money to the PCB and asking for the NOC. The PCB stated, don’t worry about the NOC, if your money comes and hits our bank account before the first ball is bowled, we’ll take care of the NOC for you.”
MLC franchise source, PakPassion, July 2026
An NOC is a document a national cricket board issues to allow its contracted players to participate in overseas leagues. Without it, a player cannot take the field. For Pakistani cricketers, who require PCB approval to participate in any franchise tournament outside Pakistan, that document sits at the centre of their entire international club career.
What the PCB has been doing with that document, according to MLC franchise sources, is charging $25,000 per player to release it, with no upfront communication during the recruitment period and no formal written policy to point to when franchises ask questions.
The method, per the franchise source, follows the same pattern across seasons. PCB stays silent through the months when franchises are recruiting, contracting, and announcing players. The demand arrives approximately one week before the tournament begins.
“It’s more the extortion the PCB does. Basically, through the year, they won’t say anything. And then right towards the start of the tournament, when they have to give their NOCs, they send an email saying that for the NOC, it will be $25,000 for each player.”
MLC franchise source, PakPassion, July 2026
By that point, squads have been announced and replacements are not possible. The franchise pays or loses the player.
MLC franchise owners raised the matter directly with PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi. The response, per the franchise source, was that charging the fee was PCB’s right and a source of revenue. No formal documentation of the policy was provided, and when franchises asked why it was not communicated during the recruitment period, the PCB did not respond. PCB has not made any official statement confirming or denying the fee structure.
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An NOC is not supposed to be a revenue instrument. It exists because cricket boards need to protect their international calendar. They need to know where their players are, what workload they are carrying, and whether they will be fit when national duty calls. That is the legitimate purpose of the system. It is also why most boards have issued NOCs without charging overseas leagues a fee.
What the PCB’s timing reveals is that this particular use of the NOC has nothing to do with workload management. A board that genuinely cares about player availability communicates at the start of the recruitment cycle. It tells leagues what the conditions are before a single contract is signed. It does not wait until a week before the tournament, when the franchise has already committed publicly to its squad and has no practical alternative to paying.
That timing is the point. Remove it, and the $25,000 fee does not work.
What is also true is that the player, whose name secured the franchise deal, receives nothing from that $25,000. The PCB collects it. The franchise pays it. The player is simply the asset being taxed at the moment of release by the very board they represent.
Pakistani cricketers are already excluded from the IPL, the richest franchise competition in the world. Their entire club career plays out in the PSL and a small number of other tournaments where the PCB issues NOCs. MLC was one of those tournaments. When franchise owners tell player agents they will not sign Pakistani cricketers because the financial unpredictability is too high, the players do not just lose one league. They lose another door.
In MLC 2026, Haris Rauf, playing for the San Francisco Unicorns, was the only Pakistani cricketer in the tournament. In previous seasons, multiple Pakistani players featured across different MLC franchises. The shift is a direct consequence of what franchise owners described as financial uncertainty they can no longer absorb.
Other franchise leagues around the world do not encounter this situation with their cricket boards. According to the franchise source, the $25,000 NOC fee appears to be imposed specifically on MLC franchises and not on other overseas leagues where Pakistani players participate.
🚨 PCB STARTED BEGGING 🚨
– MLC franchises have revealed that PCB is asking for a $25,000 fee to issue NOCs for Pakistani players 😂
– MLC raised this matter with PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, he said – it’s PCB’s right and a source of revenue 😅pic.twitter.com/JMzy3aKjhd
— Ajay Jadeja (@AjayJadeja171) July 18, 2026
Jadeja shared these details on his verified X account. No official PCB statement has been made at time of publication.
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