PSL postponed

In another international embarrassment for Pakistan, the sixth edition of the PSL, Pakistan's most prestigious premier league tournament, has had to be postponed after at least seven participants tested positive for Covid-19. The Covid-19 scare had existed before the tournament began and there were contesting voices as to whether the PCB should have gone ahead with the mega event in the first place. However, it chose to do so, claiming it would be able to set up a 'bio bubble', which would keep players secure from the virus – provided they stayed within it. It is somewhat unclear precisely what this 'bio bubble' consisted of, though the idea appears to have been to keep the players as isolated from the general public as possible, and to carry out tests from time to time. There are also allegations that the franchises involved in the event had broken rules and failed to follow protocols, with one franchise at least accused of risky reaction to possible infections, and rumours also of a franchise owner breaking the bio-bubble protocol.

So what is largely obvious is that this has been quite a failure. PCB Chief Executive Waseem Khan has said an investigation would be held by agencies from outside the PCB, which will not investigate itself. This sounds simple but the damage has been done. The tournament had just begun to reach stages where it fully involved and enthralled the public. Its postponement at this stage also opens up questions as to whether a window can be found this year to either finish the event by conducting the remaining games or hold a new tournament from the start.

Questions will no doubt be asked about the precautions taken or not taken. The suggestion that players may have been infected when the ball went into the public and was thrown back into the playing field is something that should have been thought about before and guarded against by sanitizing the ball. This has been done in other countries. It is true Pakistan has held other international events successfully, including series against South Africa and Zimbabwe. However, the PSL debacle will not be forgotten soon and we wait to see how the questions of returning money to franchisors as well as to members of the public who bought tickets will now be handled. That is all that is left of the tournament.