KARACHI, Jan 26: Former Pakistan players Imran Farhat and Taufiq Umar on Saturday said they would challenge a ban on playing domestic cricket slapped on them in punishment for taking part in a rebel Indian league.

“It is unjust to ban us from playing domestic cricket because it’s our bread and butter. We will take the matter to the court very soon and fight this ban,” Imran and Taufiq said at a joint press conference.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday decided to ban players who featured in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) held in India in November-December last year.

The ICL, bankrolled by India’s largest media group which owns the Zee television channel, lured some two dozen foreign players to their league which was neither sanctioned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) nor the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The PCB had warned players joining the league that they would not be selected for the national team in future and last month barred the ICL players from featuring in domestic cricket.

Besides Imran and Taufiq, former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, former all-rounders Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood, and paceman Shabbir Ahmed also played in the ICL.

Star batsman Mohammad Yousuf also signed for the ICL but withdrew on the instructions of the PCB and instead signed with the BCCI-backed Indian Premier League due to start later this year.

“We had filed the petition last month but after PCB showed some leniency we withdrew it, but now the PCB has taken a U-turn on the matter so we are going to file the case by next week,” said Imran.

Imran further said they also had the support of their former captain Inzamam, revealing: “Inzamam has also promised his support and there is no rule on which they can ban us.”

Meanwhile, former Pakistan captain Aamir Sohail has expressed his surprise over the PCB decisions to impose bans on players participating in the ICL, and that of not awarding the central contract to fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.

Commenting on PCB’s ban decision, he said it was surprising.

“The PCB invited Inzamam to play a Test match against South Africa (last year) after he had signed a contract with the ICL and they are now banning players,” he maintained.

On the exclusion of Shoaib Akhtar from the central contracts list, Aamir stated: “The decision surprised me as it is pure injustice.”

The PCB Governing Board, which held a marathon meeting here on Friday, did not award contracts to Shoaib and Mohammad Sami.

“It looks a joke to me. On one hand the PCB doesn’t want to lose Shoaib (Akhtar) and on the other they include him in a special category (‘D’),” Aamir, the ex-chief selector, stated on the Governing Board’s decision.—Agencies