The delay in an official response from the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) has raised serious question marks on the staging of remaining fixtures of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in UAE.
The PCB was expecting an official reply from the ECB on Sunday or Monday but so far nothing has been communicated. If PCB doesn’t get a response in the next day or so, there might be some serious issues in holding the remaining fixtures of PSL in UAE, according to a local TV channel.
In addition to this, the broadcasting crew which are mainly from South Africa and India are also facing difficulties in entering in to UAE due to COVID-19 restrictions, a local TV channel reported.
All these issues have delayed a formal announcement from the PCB about shifting the games to UAE.
Yesterday, Karachi Kings announced through their official Twitter account that the remaining games of the PSL 6 will be played in UAE but the tweet was deleted later. This has raised further questions in the minds of fans.
All the franchises will leave for UAE on May 18 and 19 via chartered flights. The teams will quarantine in two different places after landing. The UAE authorities have made it mandatory for all players and officials to undergo a 10-day quarantine.
Last week, PCB formally approached ECB to host the remaining games of the sixth edition of PSL in UAE.
This step was taken after all the six franchises asked to shift the tournament. Furthermore, the National Command Operation Centre (NCOC) has also advised the board to not play in Karachi considering the COVID-19 situation.
In the initial plans, the teams were supposed to arrive in Karachi on May 23 and start their seven-day quarantine period. The matches were supposed to begin on June 2 culminating with the final on June 20.
Earlier, the PCB had decided to postpone the sixth edition of the HBL PSL, after multiple positive Covid-19 cases, on March 4.
According to details, seven players and one support staff official had tested positive for the virus which led to question marks over PCB’s bio-secure bubble arrangements and reservations from foreign players.
