Glamorgan’s cricket officials are pursuing explosive Pakistani star Shahid Afridi in a bid to help fill up their ‘magnificent new stadium’ but a strict Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) approach towards permitting their players for county stints may leave them high and dry.
According to details, the Welsh county officials have said that they have approached PCB officials in a bid to sign ‘Boom Boom’ Afridi to boost their Twenty20 campaign this year.
But a PCB official told that the Board will not release any of its contracted players for a county stint till a clear policy is devised on the issue next month.
Shafqat Naghmi, PCB’s Chief Operating Officer, said that the PCB Executive Board is expected to decide a new policy on county stints when it meets in Islamabad on March 8.
 “It is the Executive Board that would decide whether we (PCB) could be lenient in awarding permission (to players) for county stint,” Naghmi said.
When it met in Karachi last month, the PCB Executive Board discussed the county issue but decided to delay a decision on it till its next meeting. It was decided that till then, Zakir Khan, the PCB Director of Cricket Operations, will prepare a report on the merits and demerits of Pakistani players’ participation in county matches.
 “Zakir is working on the report and we are looking forward to settling this issue at the next Executive Board meeting,” said Naghmi.
The PCB official made it clear that till the Executive Board outlines a clear cut policy, Pakistan players will not be allowed to sign any county contracts.
This means that Glamorgan, which is keen to have Afridi playing for them, will have to wait for a month.
Glamorgan cricket manager Matthew Maynard had earlier said in an interview that his county is looking for an exciting player like Afridi.
 “We want a top-class player who will win us matches and also drag people through the gate and Afridi is someone who fits the bill.
 “It’s up to the Pakistan board to agree to release him for that period of his contract.”
Glamorgan officials are of the view that Afridi, who has the highest career strike rate in international cricket, will certainly fill the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.
Afridi, who enjoys the fourth highest strike rate in world Twenty 20 with 173.62 runs per 100 balls, left his mark on Cardiff after becoming the first man to score 12 runs off one ball when he hit the Millennium Stadium roof in the Power Cricket game in 2005.
 “Afridi is one of only half a dozen players in the world who would help the team progress in the competition but also benefit us commercially by filling our magnificent new stadium. That’s the purpose,” said Maynard.
 “I’m keen to sign a big name player for the Twenty 20 window and there are only a small pool of big names still available.
 “Virander Sehwag and Yurvaj Singh are also possibilities. Sachin Tendulkar was another option. But he’s not been a great Twenty 20 player. We need a player who contributes in all aspects,” he concluded.
Glamorgan also showed a keen interest in signing Afridi’s compatriot Rao Iftikhar Anjum, a medium-pacer who can bat, but the PCB refused to grant him permission.
The senior Board officials are of the view that a marathon county stint can leave a player injured or burnt-out which they believe is against the interest of the Pakistani team. In the past, they have stopped pacers Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul from playing county cricket and may also block leg-spinner Danish Kaneria stint with Essex this year.