- PCB decision comes after drone incident near Pindi stadium.
- Says safety of both domestic and foreign players top priority.
- PCB describes foreign cricketers as ‘precious guests’.
KARACHI: Pakistan’s T20 cricket league will be relocated to the United Arab Emirates, officials said on Friday, after Indian attacks on the country, including a drone that reached Rawalpindi stadium.
Pakistan’s army “neutralised” 28 Indian drones, including one near the city’s stadium on Thursday morning, the foreign minister Ishaq Dar said.
He called it “a deliberate attempt to target domestic and foreign cricket players”.
“Pakistan Cricket Board confirms that the remaining matches of the Pakistan Super League have been shifted to the UAE,” read a PCB statement, which added that the schedule would be updated in due course.
The decision was reached after several meetings between the franchise and the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the interior minister.
Naqvi said the decision was made for the sake of players’ safety.
“The PCB has always stood by the position that politics and sports need to be kept apart. However, in view of the extremely irresponsible and dangerous Indian act of targeting the stadium, the PCB has taken this decision,” Naqvi was quoted as saying in the statement.
“We have shifted the remaining matches to the UAE so that the domestic as well as foreign cricketers, who are our precious guests, can be saved from the possible reckless targeting by India.”
Former champions Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi were due to play at Rawalpindi stadium on Thursday but the match was postponed after a drone fell close to the stadium.
Thirty-seven foreign players, including from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, are taking part in the PSL.
India sent air strikes into Pakistan on Wednesday, two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOK) — a claim Pakistan denied.
Pakistan responded with heavy artillery fire and both sides accused each other on Thursday of carrying out waves of drone attacks.
International cricket resumed in Pakistan in 2020 after being suspended following the 2009 terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore.
Several Australian and New Zealand players involved in this season’s PSL, including Australia’s David Warner, had travelled to Pakistan with their national teams in the recent past.
The following fixtures will be rescheduled accordingly, said the PCB.
• Karachi Kings v Peshawar Zalmi
• Peshawar Zalmi v Lahore Qalandars
• Islamabad United v Karachi Kings
• Multan Sultans v Quetta Gladiators
• Qualifier
• Eliminator 1
• Eliminator 2
• Final
