Multan postpones National T20 Cricket

MULTAN: The City District Administration (CDA) Multan on Tuesday announced postponement of tournament due to security reasons and formally informed the Pakistan Cricket Control Board (PCB) with excuse of holding such event that would engage law enforcement agencies for 15 days, officials said.

Talking to journalists Multan Deputy Commissioner Mudassar Riaz Malik said the administration has informed PCB in recent meeting and sought apology in holding the tournament in Multan due to security reasons. He said the four walls of cricket stadium have been under construction and it required three months to complete. The Deputy Commissioner said that 2000 security personnel needed to cover the security of 15 days cricket tournament while.

The security agencies did not allow holding the tournament in Multan and it is hard to arrange such large numbers of personnel for tournament security. He said district administration has informed PCB about postponement of tournament. On the other hand, cricket lovers showed resentment against the decision, saying politics of credit was behind the postponement of tournament.

Haram gate Traders Association president Sajjad Malik said that he was surprised over the administration’s decision as it inaugurated Inter-Tehsil District Cricket Championship under Punjab Sports Calendar at District Sports Ground on Tuesday but it refused holding National T20 tournament under the pretext of security reasons.

However, CDA spokesperson rejected the impact of politics of credit and argued the National T20 Cricket Cup Tournament has been postponed after failing to receive security clearance from concerned law enforcement agencies. Earlier, the PCB had scheduled National T-20 Cricket Tournament in Multan from December 10 to 25. The PCB had selected eight regional teams in the second week of current month at Lahore Gaddafi stadium.