‘Karachi to host five PSL matches, including final’

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ehsan Mani on Sunday said Karachi would host five matches of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), including the final.

“This year Karachi will host five PSL matches, including the final. I am very hopeful that many foreign players will tour Pakistan,” Mani told reporters here at the National Stadium.He said that the PSL had been playing a major role in changing the perception of foreign nations about Pakistan. “When the players come for PSL and when they go back they act as our representatives and tell their people that there is no issue in Pakistan,” Mani said.

He claimed that PSL had become a leading “brand of the cricket world”.About the revival of international cricket in Pakistan, Mani said that the PCB was in talks with all cricket boards.However, he said, the Board was focusing on PSL. “When foreign coaches and other cricket officials come here they go back very happy. So it would be a great help for us in changing the perception of foreign nations about Pakistan when we are able to bring in more people here. It’s just a matter of time. InshaAllah if this process continues we will be able to host international cricket series in Pakistan once again,” said Mani, a former head of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Responding to a query, Mani said that media coverage of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Emerging Teams Asia Cup was important. “It should have been covered by media. But you know media houses don’t come forward without money,” he said.

However, he was quick to add that as it was an event of the ACC and Pakistan was only hosting it so the PCB was not in a position to spend money on it. Karachi hosted the matches of four-team Group B of the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup.

Besides Pakistan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) featured in the group slots. Pakistan and Bangladesh made it to the semi-finals which will be held in Colombo on December 13.

About the appointment of the Managing Director Wasim Khan, Mani said the job of the MD was to conduct the day-to-day affairs of the Board. “The roles of the MD and that of PCB chairman are quite different. Of the Test-playing nations Pakistan was the only nation where cricket board did not have a chief executive. We will have to make an amendment to the PCB Constitution and the MD will then play his role as the chief executive,” the PCB chairman said.

About the appointment of a Media Manager, Mani said they wanted to professionalise the Board. “When people leave their decent jobs in England or the UAE and come to Pakistan it shows that they now respect Pakistan and know that a change has come,” Mani said.About Pakistan’s pathetic show in the Test series against New Zealand in the UAE, Mani said, “It is part of cricket.”