LAHORE, Sept 1: The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) first official attempt to convince Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq and Imran Farhat to dissociate themselves from the Indian Cricket League (ICL) went in vain on Saturday with none of the players responding positively.

The PCB Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf himself made the telephonic contact with all the three ‘defectors’ in a bid to lure them back to the Pakistan ranks. However, all three rejected the offer, much to the surprise of the board officials.

It is also significant to note that the PCB chief made no attempt whatsoever on Saturday to contact former skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq who has also joined the rebel league.

Sources close to the team are of the opinion that apart from being disgruntled with the board for their axing from the Twenty20 World Championship, both Yousuf and Razzaq consider Inzamam as their mentor and want the PCB to take the burly Multan-born batsman into confidence also. The sources added that all efforts to convince Yousuf and Razzaq were likely to fail until the time Inzamam was approached by the board to make a comeback.

Meanwhile, opener Imran Farhat who has his own grouse against the board and the selectors, spoke to the chairman at length on Saturday. Dr Ashraf asked him to reconsider his decision but the diminutive player did not commit anything to him during the conversation.

It became fairly evident from the response of Yousuf and others on Saturday that they are clearly not enticed by the bonus package offered by the PCB on Friday. “Such financial offers cannot change our mind and we want changes in the PCB set-up and a new selection committee in place,” one of the three players told Dawn on condition of anonymity.

“Besides, the ICL has made a much lucrative offer to us compared to the PCB, and even if the Indian League does not take off due to any reason, we have other good offers to keep us busy,” added the player.