PCB sends show-cause notice to Yousuf

The Pakistan board has sent a show-cause notice to Mohammad Yousuf, formally banned him from all forms of cricket in Pakistan and demanded he pay them more than Rs10 million (US$ 125,000 approx) as costs incurred on litigation with the ICL. Yousuf signed with the unauthorised league earlier this week, a year after the PCB lured him away from it with the promise of a lucrative IPL contract.

"We have sent him [Yousuf] a show-cause notice and if he doesn't return the money, we will file a lawsuit in a civil court to recover money," Shan Gul, the PCB's legal advisor, said.

Yousuf initially signed with the ICL in September 2007 but the board managed to get him back in to their fold even as the league took the matter up in an arbitration court. A stay order was passed on Yousuf's participation in the IPL, though an appeal was later filed by the PCB on Yousuf's behalf in the Bombay High Court.

The notice accused Yousuf of misconduct and of deceiving the PCB. "In view of your misconduct the PCB acting in term of clause 13.1 read with 1.4.2 has decided to terminate your contract with immediate effect. The contract, therefore, stands terminated as of today. Furthermore, the PCB hereby bans, forbids and stops you from playing any form of representative cricket [department, association, club] in Pakistan. This ban also applies in the case of teams under PCB's jurisdiction but playing outside Pakistan.

"Separately, the PCB is entitled to recover from you costs [in the form of expenses] incurred by the PCB on your long drawn out litigation with the ICL. Since you by your conduct and action have deceived the PCB and compromised the very stance for which Rs one crore sixty eight thousand were spent by the PCB for your benefit all payments [if any] to you by the PCB are immediately stopped so as to offset PCB's aforementioned expenses."