Essex have been left puzzled and annoyed after Indian Twenty20 star Yusuf Pathan has been prevented from joining the club by his international board.

Everything apart from final permission from the BCCI (Indian Board of Control) was in place for explosive batsman Pathan to join up with Essex this summer and spearhead their Friends Provident t20 campaign.

However, Essex have been left high and dry after the BCCI withdrew all of its players because of concerns over their workload.

Essex are now trying to resurrect the deal, but it is likely they will have to find someone else.

Chief executive David East said: “Six weeks ago we completed the signing of Yusuf for our 2010 Friends Provident t20 campaign. “We made the decision not to make this public until we had received the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the BCCI.

“We made a formal request for Yusuf’s release to the BCCI and received verbal confirmation from the player that this would be granted by them.

“On March 26 we received official confirmation from BCCI that Yusuf could play for us this season, subject to the usual agreement that should he be required for international duty during his time with us then he would be released back to play for India.

“Unfortunately the following day, we received notification that the NOC had been revoked by the BCCI because of a review of the Indian players international workload during the course of the year.

“Naturally we are very disappointed and puzzled by the timing of their decision."

For the full story see tomorrow's Gazette.