Usman Khan was banned by the Emirates Cricket Board(ECB) for five years after he made himself available to be selected for the Pakistan Cricket Team. The ECB deemed that Usman Khan had “misrepresented his intentions to the board”, however, it seems like the ECB may have acted quite harshly.
The make-up of the UAE Cricket team
For years UAE has been taking cricketers from other countries, particularly players from India and Pakistan, where the UAE side is made up of cricketers from foreign nations. On top of that, the UAE does not even give out nationality, thus creating a situation where the people representing the UAE are not even nationals of the country.
The current UAE team does not have a single player that holds the nationality of the country they are to play as a representative of in ICC Cricket events/series.
The ban on Usman Khan
Yet, while taking cricketers from other countries, UAE has seemed to not have an issue with it, but has raised an objection and gave out a ban when a non-national player, Usman Khan, decided to represent the country he is a national of.
The 28-year-old Usman Khan participated in the PSL as a foreign player for the Multan Sultans, who reached the finals. However, when Usman was given the offer to represent Pakistan, he took up the opportunity.
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An ECB statement declared, “Following a thorough investigation, it was determined that Usman misrepresented his intentions to the ECB regarding his commitment to the UAE team. He also utilized the opportunities and support provided by the ECB to pursue other avenues.”
The ECB further stated that Khan “has violated his contractual obligations to the ECB and, as a result, will be ineligible to partake in ECB-sanctioned tournaments/leagues, as well as local events organized by councils/academies in the UAE, for five years.”
As Uman Khan goes along representing Pakistan, the questions linger about the actions of UAE and also questions arise against ICC on why it is ok for countries to not give out nationality to a person who is representing them at ICC events/series.
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