ICC bars Pakistani player from playing for Afghanistan

Pakistani batsman Rifatullah Mohmand, who wants to play for Afghanistan in the 2011 World Cup qualifying tournament in South Africa on the ground that his father was born in that country, has been stopped from doing so by the ICC.

An official of the Pakistan cricket Board confirmed that Mohmand had not been allowed to play for Afghanistan by the International Cricket Council because of eligibility issues.

"Mohmand has a Pakistani nationality although his father is born in Afghanistan that is why he tried to qualify for Afghanistan," the official said.

Mohmand has played 117 first class matches in Pakistan's domestic tournaments and was also a member of the Pakistan 'A' team that played against Australia two years back.

Interestingly, Mohmand while trying to qualify for Afghanistan had not left his job with Habib Bank in Pakistan for whom he has been playing for a number of years now.

"No, we have not terminated his employment as yet but we had dropped him from our national one-day championship squad after the return of the ICL players to our fold," Abdul Raquib, head of the bank's sports department, said.

Afghanistan has surprised everyone by winning three world division league tournaments to move into the World Cup qualifying tournament from which four teams will play in the 2011 tournament.