Pakistan postpones its Twenty20 league indefinitely, scrapping UAE relocation plan, as tension with India escalates.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has postponed its Pakistan Super League T20 cricket tournament following rising military tensions between India and Pakistan.
The PCB said it acted on advice from Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“Cricket, while being a unifying force and a source of joy, must take a respectful pause,” the PCB said in a statement on Friday evening.
The PCB had earlier confirmed that it would relocate the eight remaining PSL matches to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, citing growing concerns among overseas players and the need to prioritise their safety.
The latest announcement, however, said the PSL was being postponed and gave no indication of whether this year’s edition would resume.
The cities of Rawalpindi, Multan and Lahore had been scheduled to host the remaining PSL games.
On Thursday, an Indian drone fell inside the complex of the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium hours before the start of a PSL game in which several cricketers from New Zealand, Australia, the West Indies, South Africa and England were due to compete.
PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the interior minister in the Pakistan government, held meetings with foreign cricketers and six franchise owners of the PSL before initially saying the tournament was being moved to Dubai.
England cricketer Sam Billings, New Zealand’s Colin Munro, South African Rilee Rossouw and Jason Holder of the West Indies were among 43 foreign cricketers competing in the PSL.
“We have sincere regard for the mental well-being of participating players and the sentiments of our foreign players, and we respect the concerns of their families who want to see them back home,” the PCB statement said.
The PSL, in its 10th edition, started in the UAE in 2016. The UAE hosted the first two editions of the PSL, except for the final in 2017, and also some of the games in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Munro’s Islamabad United are the defending champions in the six-team league. Rossouw’s Quetta Gladiators lead the points table and have already qualified for the playoff stage while Multan Sultans, led by Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan, were eliminated after losing eight of their nine league games.
The three other teams are Peshawar Zalmi, captained by Babar Azam; Karachi Kings, skippered by Australian David Warner and Lahore Qalandars.
The Indian Premier League was suspended for a week, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said on Friday, in a similar move amid the current tensions in the region.
