PSL final here is not the panacea: Abbasi

KARACHI: The people leading Pakistan’s cricket must consider all aspects before holding the PSL final in Lahore, said former PCB chief Arif Ali Abbasi on Sunday while talking to ‘The News’.

“PCB officials have failed to understand the gravity of the situation,” he said. “We should not mingle cricket with politics. Cricket is a culture and it demands peace. Cricket matches are not played in such an environment,” said Abbasi, who has the credit of organising two World Cups, in 1987 and 1996.

“One match, even if it is the final of PSL, can’t do miracles,” he added.

He expressed surprise over PCB’s statements against FICA, which is a prominent body of international cricketers. “We are already in isolation. No team, not even Bangladesh and West Indies, is ready to come here and PCB officials are issuing irresponsible statements,” he said.

“Who will take responsibility if anything wrong happens?” he asked.

Abbasi said the current PCB chiefs were not related to cricket administration in any way in their professional lives. “They don’t know how to tackle the situation,” he said.

Abbasi said that the federal government should not leave big decisions to PCB bosses. “The current management will do the same with cricket as has been done with hockey,” he warned.

Meanwhile, well-informed sources have said that PCB was already making alternative arrangements in Dubai.

But a majority of cricket lovers told this correspondent that the final should be organised in Lahore. They said it would revive international cricket in Pakistan.

They said that if the final was not played in Pakistan, the terrorist organisations would be emboldened.

Informed sources said that so far no final decision has been taken in this regard but after February 23 blast in Lahore, the situation had changed. Foreign players are reluctant to play here.