On Tuesday, The Pakistan Cricket Board, announced that the remainder of the PSL 6 tournament is all set to get underway after receiving all the necessary approvals and exemptions from the United Arab Emirates government on Thursday afternoon.
The PCB will have a meeting with the franchise owners and inform them about the recent development as well as discuss other details.
The PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan expressed his jubilation and also the gratitude for the authorities in helping the board resolve all the hurdles.
“We are delighted with this development as the remaining hurdles in the staging of the remaining HBL PSL 6 matches in Abu Dhabi have been overcome and all systems are now good to go,”
Khan said in a statement.
“We are grateful to the UAE government, National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority, Emirates Cricket Board and Abu Dhabi Sports Council for their support and patronage in ensuring all final obstacles were removed, which has firmly put us in a position to complete our marquee event,”
he added.
It is understood that the PCB have hired two charter flights from Karachi and Lahore to fly the players and staff to Abu Dhabi on May 22. The remaining matches of PSL 6 were slated to happen during June 1-20. The schedule of the remaining matches will be disclosed soon.
“The PCB, in consultation with the team owners, will now work at pace to finalise all event-related arrangements, details of which will be shared in due course,”
he also stated.
“I take this opportunity to thank my staff for their untiring efforts and hard work that included sacrificing their Eid-ul-Fitr holidays in an effort to ensure the PCB honours its commitment to its fans to hold the remaining matches of the tournament in June,”
Khan concluded.
Earlier, the Abu Dhabi government had reportedly denied entry for those who are not vaccinated, putting a major dent in PCB’sPCB’s plans. They had even done the vaccination in Pakistan. However, the Abu Dhabi government had insisted that everyone coming into the city must be vaccinated. A demand that almost jeopardised the league as the PCB does not control foreign players, technicians, and the production crew.
Earlier this year, the sixth season of Pakistan Super League has postponed only 14 matches into the tournament after a Covid-19 outbreak in the bio-bubble. Multiple players and support staff members of PSL franchises were found Covid positive.
After a long break, the board had scheduled the remaining 20 matches at the National Stadium Karachi, but the Pakistan authorities that oversee the Covid-19 management in the country advised not to hold the tournament in Pakistan. Following this, the board decided to shift the tournament to the UAE.
Before the postponement, Mohammad Rizwan was at the top of the batting charts with 297 runs in 5 games, while England’s Saqib Mahmood was leading the bowling charts with 12 wickets in five matches.
Currently, Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi hold the top 2 positions on the points table with two wins and two losses each. Islamabad United and Lahore Qalandars are at the third and fourth position, respectively. Multan Sultans and Quetta Gladiators are reeling at the bottom as both the teams have lost four games each. With 20 more matches to go, the PSL table could see some shakeup.
