Lahore to host PSL matches before June

LAHORE: Five of the six franchises want Lahore to host the remaining 20 matches of the Pakistan Super League-6 that was postponed after seven players tested positive for coronavirus.

In a virtual meeting of the franchise owners and the PCB officials with chairman Ehsan Mani in the chair, the owners blew out a barrage of grievances.

With the majority of the franchises agreeing to play in Lahore, the city has been chosen as the venue for the remainder of the fixtures of PSL, a PCB official told ‘The News’ on Tuesday.

“Five out of the six franchises urged the PCB to shift the remaining matches of the PSL 2021 to Lahore,” said the official.

The final decision regarding the matter will be taken in the next meeting which is going to be held in the coming days.

Lahore was originally scheduled to host 14 of the 34 matches of the PSL 2021 from March 10 onwards, which included the final of the competition.

Punjab government has given green signal to host the fixtures.

In the meeting, the franchise owners lodged a heap of complaints. The franchises said that they were not involved in the planning of PSL.

In the virtual meeting, Mani, Chief Executive Wasim Khan, COO Salman Naseer, Director Commercial Babar Hamid and franchise owners came face to face for the first time since the PSL was called off on March 3. After they lodged a number of complaints, the franchises also demanded that they should be taken into confidence over the bio-secure bubble.

Whether or not the fans will be there was not discussed.

PCB is to complete the sixth edition by June because the national team is to undertake an ODI and T20I tour to England and from there it will fly to the West Indies. On their return, Pakistan will host England and New Zealand from September. So the conduct of PSL before their travel to England is necessary.

Chairman Ehsan Mani said that there will be nothing to complain in future.

The official said there was also a possibility of PSL resuming later this month in case of postponement of the tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa.