LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: The final of HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) will be held on home soil for the first time, despite a wave of deadly attacks across the country in recent days, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Monday.
However, it was not clear how many foreign players would come to Pakistan to take part in the March 5 game in Lahore. “The nation has shown its passion and unity. The Pakistani nation is peaceful and it will not be blackmailed,” Pakistan Cricket Board executive committee chairman Najam Sethi said.
The PSL features cricket stars from all over the world but many appear reluctant to travel to Pakistan for the final.“We have to wait until March 3 to know which foreign players will travel to Lahore, as we still do not know which two teams will qualify,” Sethi told reporters.
Pakistan has played most of their home international matches in the UAE since 2009 when gunmen attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team from their hotel to Lahore’s Gaddafi stadium, wounding six players and killing six security personnel and two civilians.
The country has been starved of international cricket, apart from a short visit by the Zimbabwe cricket team in 2015. The city district government and the security departments will in a day or two give details of the route for the fans to enter the stadium and the areas reserved for parking.
If there is no shuttle service to the stadium, the fans will have to walk two to three kilometres to reach the venue. An official of the PCB said there would be no free passes. The ticket prices range up to Rs12,000.
The tickets for the general enclosures having no chairs may be sold at a starting price of Rs500. There will be a ticket booth set up in Gaddafi Stadium, and cricket fans can also buy PSL final tickets online.
Sethi said: “Hopefully, after the success of PSL, we will send a message to the world and cricket will come back to its home. Cricket is the heartbeat of the Pakistani nation.
“We have already spoken to all foreign players. I will go back to Dubai to speak [about the final]. Insha Allah, foreign players will come,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, the Punjab government gave the go-ahead to PCB for holding the PSL final in Lahore. A high-level meeting of the provincial authorities was held in Lahore, with IG Punjab, DC and CCPO Lahore in presence.
Punjab Minister for Law Rana Sanaullah said the government wanted to secure the whole province. “We do not want that on one hand PSL final is conducted peacefully in Lahore, but some unpleasant incident happens in any other part of the province,” he added.
According to latest reports, a total of 56 players have decided they will be happy to travel to Pakistan to feature in the final but Chris Gayle, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara are not among those.
Jayawardene and Sangakkara were part of the Sri Lankan squad that came under attack in 2009.
The following players will replace the international players in the final two teams if they refuse to play in Lahore: Daren Sammy, Chris Jordan, Rohm Mustafa, Ryan ten Doeschate, Tino Best, Galan Rupasinghe, Devon Thomas, Jade Dernbach, Kausal Silva, Jayson Mohammad, Sean Williams, Owais Shah, Soumya Sarkar, Shane Shillingsford, Yasir Arafat, Dawlat Zadran, Chamara Kapugedera, Craig Ervine, Nawroz Mangal, Graeme Cremer, Suleman Benn, Danushka Gunathilaka, Anamul Haq, Brendan Taylor, Farveez Maharoof, Miguel Cummins, Rayad Emrit, Rashid Khan, Kusal Mendis, Dawid Malan, Ashar Zaidi, Max Waller, Steven Taylor, Mome van Wyk, Azharullah, Sachitra Senanayake, Akeal Hosein, Dania Hyatt, Seekuge Prasamia, Darren Stevens, Jeevan Mendis, Sean Ervine, Peter Trego, Alex Wakely, Shahriar Nafees, Richard Levi, Joshua Cobb, Milinda Siriwardana, Phil Mustard, Nildull Duna, Anuk Fernando, Fidel Edwards, Azeem Rafiq, Elton Cligumbura, Asghar Stamiczai, Krishmar Santolde.