PSL MD resigned due to some personal reasons

PSL managing director Salman Sarwar Butt, has stepped down from his post:

A key figure of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), its managing director Salman Sarwar Butt, has stepped down from his post and will be replaced by the director general PCB Javed Miandad in the interim. The inaugural season of the Twenty20 tournament was indefinitely postponed because of logistical issues.

Butt, a banker by profession, was instrumental in setting up Pakistan's domestic T20 competition, whose first edition in 2005 was sponsored by his then employer, ABN-AMRO Bank. He is an influential figure on the Pakistan corporate circuit and was involved in setting up the PSL since 2011.

"Before joining, I had intimated the PCB of my plans and commitments beyond April 2013, which would prevent me from working on future editions of PSL," Butt said in a statement. "As the league is now most likely to be held after April, I will not be available to work further on this first edition. We have therefore mutually agreed that it would make sense to appoint a successor sooner rather than later.

"I would naturally be happy to provide all possible assistance to PCB and PSL even if I am not officially associated with the league, and would remain an ardent ambassador of PSL."

The PSL was supposed to be held between March 26 and April 7 in Pakistan but was delayed to give investors more time to submit bids and also to avoid scheduling conflicts with other cricket tournaments. It was also going to clash with the pre-poll campaigns ahead of general elections, expected to be held in May. The PCB is working on another slot for the league and no precise timeframe has been indicated.

"A committee is working full time to find available and appropriate dates and we are hopeful that the process for the sale of various rights will restart soon," said Butt. "We are constantly in touch with all parties who have shown interest in our League and we hope to announce new dates soon."

Ajmal Shehzad shows his interest for PSL

Ajmal Shehzad keep an eye on Pakistan Super League:

Ajmal Shahzad, who only two years ago was regarded as a integral part of England's fast-bowling future, is the most notable English county player seriously considering whether to sign up for the planned Pakistan Super League.

Pakistan are so anxious to attract overseas players that they have offered life insurance of $2 million (£1.25m) as well as 24-hour personal security for a tournament which would offer competitive cricket immediately ahead of the English county season. 

That has been enough for Shahzad to toy with the possibility of making himself available, along with three other county players with Pakistani antecedents: Lancashire's Kabir Ali, Mooen Ali of Worcestershire and Kadeer Ali, who is currently a free agent since being released by Gloucestershire in 2010. 

That they would eventually accept offers, though, is far from certain. Players' associations including the international body, FICA, and their England equivalent, the PCA, have warned players that they should not visit Pakistan on security grounds and there is a general acceptance that overseas players will be immensely difficult to attract. 

But players with a Pakistan background, and of Muslim religion, are naturally more willing to consider any offers than most, privately feeling that their safety, although impossible to guarantee, might be less compromised.

Shahzad, who is forging a new career with Nottinghamshire after sharing a troubled 2012 season between Yorkshire and Lancashire, said: "It's still early doors but if the PSL is set up professionally and becomes official and the security is top notch then I would think about it. My first commitment is to Notts but the fixtures don't clash with the English season." 

Nottinghamshire have taken a firm line against the involvement of their players in the IPL because it clashes with the England season, but their director of cricket, Mick Newell, emphasised that there would be no automatic objection to any overseas T20 tournament which took place in England's close season. 

He counselled: "We would advise players to have full discussions with the PCA before making a decision about any overseas T20 tournament so they were fully aware of any issues, but we would not automatically block an NOC if it was requested." 

Lancashire are confident that they have dissuaded Kabir from making the trip. "We haven't granted an NOC for any of our players to go forward to the PSL auction," a Lancashire statement said, giving the impression that the subject was closed. 

Kabir, though, had been among the keenest to make the trip, despite an unnerving experience with terrorist violence, this time in India, more than four years ago. When attacks on Mumbai forced the suspension of India's tour of India, In November 2008, Kabir was due to have dinner at the Taj Palace, where England were also shortly due to stay, on the night of the attacks. He changed his mind at the last minute and went to the cinema and the shootings began shortly afterwards. 

Worcestershire's director of cricket, Steve Rhodes, said that Mooen Ali has also not yet applied for an NOC certificate. Such applications would be premature, however, as details of the PSL have not been finalised. Mooen is believed to have more reservations about the tournament than many others under consideration.

Now it's time for BCB to do it

The PCB is yet to issue Pakistan players NOCs to play in the upcoming Bangladesh Premier League:

The auction for the upcoming season of the Bangladesh Premier League, which is set to happen on December 20, has become the Pakistan Cricket Board's bargaining chip with the Bangladesh Cricket Board over their 'written commitment' to tour Pakistan. The PCB is yet to handover No-Objection Certificates to its players to participate in BPL 2013, and without them the tournament will be without 20 of its star overseas players from the inaugural edition.

The PCB and BCB have been discussing a short tour of Pakistan, which would mark the return of top-flight international cricket to the country for the first time since the March 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore. The PCB is seeking an official announcement from the BCB, regarding the proposed tour. A window has been created by the PCB to accommodate an ODI and T20 between January 10 and 15 ahead of the BPL, which starts from January 17.

"Onus is on Bangladesh now, whether they want to honour their commitment or not as we have already honored out commitment [by nominating Bangladesh's candidate for the ICC presidency]," a top PCB official. "We did everything to ensure our full support to Bangladesh every time, now it's time for BCB to do it.

"The Bangladesh delegation was satisfied with the security plan [for the proposed tour] and we are committed to give them the best security. The window is open for the series of two matches, preferably when we return back from the India tour."

Earlier, Bangladesh was all set to tour Pakistan in April this year after a deal had been cut between the two boards, by which the PCB would back the BCB president Mustafa Kamal as the nominee for the ICC vice-presidency and Bangladesh would tour Pakistan in 2012. However, the tour was postponed after a Dhaka court order embargoed the series.

In view of the tour, the ICC had introduced a special dispensation, to be made in exceptional circumstances, by which bilateral series can take place even if the ruling body determined it unsafe to appoint its officials for the series. As per the dispensation, such series could be manned by "non-neutral match officials".