PCB faces a race against the clock:
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is racing against the clock to hold the final Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021 matches in June, with yet another postponement dominating all three available options.
According to a well-placed source within the PCB, all three options are being considered. Fears of yet another blunder haunt organizers even more if they decide to go ahead with the June 1 restart dates.
“Though the Emirates Board has yet to respond to Pakistan’s plans to host the remaining matches in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, the time factor has begun to dominate other available options. With only twenty days until the start of the given June 1 date, the formalities attached have made meeting all requirements on time increasingly difficult. Logistical issues, a one-week quarantine period, and, most importantly, gathering cricketers from all over the world, particularly after what happened in India recently, are making it increasingly difficult to manage everything on time,” the source said.
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It is believed that the PCB has not given up hope and is attempting to manage things in a timely manner. The next few days are critical.
According to one of the PSL franchise officials, the option of postponement was discussed during the meeting with the PCB. “There is no harm in rescheduling the remaining PSL matches.
What happened in India would be fresh in the minds of the world’s top cricketers. Australians are still waiting in vain to leave India due to COVID-19 fears and the current situation. What happened in India must have had a negative impact on foreign players who want to play in another league.
As a result, the PCB has chosen the UAE as one of the available venues. But, given what happened with the IPL, will it be possible to entice cricketers to attend the remaining PSL VI matches in less than a month? Perhaps it would not be so simple.
In such cases, the option of yet another postponement becomes more appealing. Organizing the remaining PSL VI matches without the participation of mega foreign stars would be pointless.”
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The franchise owner also fears that if the PCB organizes these matches in the UAE, he will receive far fewer revenues. “More spending and fewer revenues.” We’re already losing money. The profit we expect from the leftover matches would almost certainly be eaten up by the UAE venue.”
The franchise owner stated that without the participation of megastars, the PCB could even hold these matches in Karachi. “Though it is too early to say how many leading foreign stars will be willing to join the PSL in June, there is no harm in organizing the event in Karachi with some backup foreign players.”
The PCB organizers are running out of time, as they need to have all of the arrangements in place by June 20 in order to begin the quarantine period for all participants three days later. With Pakistan and the UAE awaiting the start of Eid, the PSL organizers’ ability to prepare everything within a few working days appears to be becoming increasingly difficult. So the postponement option appears to be the most likely.
