Pakistan will postpone the Twenty20 league indefinitely and scrap the UAE’s relocation plan as tensions escalate with India.
Pakistan’s Cricket Committee has postponed Pakistan’s Super League T20 Cricket Tournament after military tensions rose between India and Pakistan.
The PCB said it acted on advice from Pakistan Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif.
“Cricket is a source of unity and joy, but we must suspend with respect,” the PCB said in a statement Friday evening.
The PCB previously confirmed that the remaining eight PSL matches will be relocated to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
However, the latest announcement said the PSL has been postponed and does not indicate whether this year’s edition will resume.
The cities of Rawalpindi, Multan and Lahore were scheduled to host the remaining PSL games.
On Thursday, Indian drones fell into the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium complex hours before the start of the PSL game, where several cricketers from New Zealand, Australia, the West Indies, South Africa and the UK will compete.
PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the home minister of Pakistan, held a meeting with PSL foreign cricketers and six franchise owners before he first said the tournament had been moved to Dubai.
British cricketer Sam Billings, New Zealand’s Colin Munroe, South Africa’s Lily Rossault and West Indies’ Jason Holder were among the 43 foreign cricketers competing in the PSL.
“We sincerely respect the mental well-being of participating players and the feelings of foreign players, and we respect the concerns of families who want to go back home and see them,” the PCB statement said.
PSL was launched in the UAE in 2016 with the 10th edition. The UAE held the first two editions of the PSL, except for the 2017 final, and held some of the games during the 2021 Covid-19 pandemic.
Munro’s Islamabad United are the defending champions of the six-team league. Rossouw’s Quetta Gladiators lead the point table and have already competed in the playoff stage, but Multan Sultans, led by Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan, was eliminated after losing eight of nine league games.
The other three teams are Peshawar Zarmi, captained by Babar Azam. The Karachi Kings, skipped by Australia’s David Warner and Lahore Curlanders.
The Indian Premier League has been suspended for a week, the Indian committee for cricket said on Friday in a similar move amid the current tensions in the region.
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