This will be Rizwan’s first appearance in the tournament, which commenced last month, as he was deemed ineligible to participate because of, according to a source in the PCB, his “failure to appear in the pre-season fitness test”. But it later emerged that he had been denied permission to play the tournament because of an ongoing investigation by the country’s cybercrimes agency (NCCIA).
Along with Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq is also being investigated by the NCCIA and his mobile phone remains in their custody. While Rizwan opted to move the court and challenge the agency over its conduct, Imam, who like Rizwan had also been denied permission to play in the President’s Trophy, has remained lull on the matter. His participation, until the filing of this story, had not been greenlighted by the PCB.