Image Credit- ICC
The UAE’s ILT20 has imposed a 12-month ban on
Afghanistan’s Noor Ahmad, a spinner, for violating his player contract with
Sharjah Warriors.
After being signed by the Warriors for the 2023 ILT20 season, Noor was given
the option to sign a one-year contract extension; however, he declined, opting
to play for the Durban Super Giants in the SA20 instead.
Noor, 19, was handed a retention notice on the
“same terms and conditions in accordance with the Player Agreement
terms” before to the second season, according to an ILT20 statement. When
he refused to sign, Warriors went directly to the league to resolve the issue.
The ILT20 chief executive David White, Col. Azam, head of security and
anti-corruption, and Zayed Abbas, a member of the Emirates Cricket Board, made
up the league’s disciplinary committee. They looked into the situation and
heard both Noor and Warriors’ arguments before rendering a decision.
Although Noor signed the original agreement as a
minor, the committee took that into consideration when they initially suggested
a 20-month ban for him. After Noor told the committee that his agent had not
fully disclosed the conditions of his contract, the committee ultimately
decided to forgive him of eight months of his ban.
During the first season, Noor participated in seven games for the Warriors,
taking four wickets for 148 runs at an economy of 7.04 and an average of 37.
Noor is the second Warriors player to receive a
suspension in a short period of time. In December of last year, Naveen-ul-Haq
was also given a 20-month ban by the league for failing to sign the retention
notice. This effectively disqualified him from the ILT20 in 2024 and 2025.