ICL stonewalling Pak cricketers’ 2.2 million dollar overdue payment bid: Moin Khan

KARACHI - The Pakistani players who played in the now-defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL) face a bleak future in respect of securing their pending payments worth two million dollars.

Officials who ran the ICL, which was not officially recognised by the BCCI or the ICC, refused to respond to former Pakistan captain Moin Khan, who coached the popular Lahore Badshahs side in the league and represented the players as well.

The entire league was owned and run by Essel Pvt Ltd, which owns the Zee group of companies. But it soon ran into financial difficulties and organised its last season in 2008-09, with Lahore beating Hyderabad Heroes in a best-of-three final.

The 19 Pakistani players who took part in the league- including former Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf and allrounder Abdul Razzaq- served a legal notice to ICL officials but have not heard from them.

“None of the officials are picking up the phone now, we’ve been trying them for months,” the Daily Times quoted Moin, as saying.

“We’ve been paid three-fourth of the entire payment we were owed but they still owe us for last season. Not just the players, but also support staff and other officials; we’re owed $2.2 million,” he added.

The league owes outstanding payments not just to Pakistani players, but also a number of players from around the world. Tim May, chief executive FICA (the world players’ body), has been in contact with all these cricketers over the dues.

“It’s not just us,” Moin said. “Millions of dollars are owed to players from Australia, New Zealand, West Indies. We’ve been in constant contact with Tim May but we’ve been told now that a legal process could be very lengthy, expensive and not guarantee that we get our money.”

Additionally, strained political and diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan make the prospect of cross-border legal action in this regard even more complicated and prolonged. (ANI)