Shifting PSL6 to UAE extremely challenging: Wasim Khan

0
827

LAHORE – Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) CEO Wasim Khan has admitted that the board faced issues in getting approval from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government in getting approval of remaining Pakistan Super League (PSL) matches.

The sixth edition of the Pakistan’s cash-rich T20 league is set to resume from June 9 in Abu Dhabi.While speaking exclusively to Samaa, Wasim expressed disappointment for not being able to organise the league completely in Pakistan.“We had said that we were going to organise the entire PSL in Pakistan but unfortunately due to Covid, it didn’t work out,” he said. “Shifting the entire tournament to UAE in two weeks was extremely challenging.

We have had some issues in getting all the approvals from the UAE government. Challenges do come, but finally some good results for us.”Moreover, Wasim said that facing delays in visas was frustrating. “Players and staff were in quarantining in Karachi and Lahore four to five days prior to coming here [Abu Dhabi],” he said.

“It was frustrating, that they had to wait in quarantine and face delay in visas.”He went on to add that managing around 400 individuals in a bio-secure bubble is not an easy task.The sixth edition of the T20 league was postponed indefinitely in March due to a coronavirus outbreak. As many as seven players and staff members tested positive for the virus.

The PCB earlier announced that the remaining PSL6 matches will be played in Karachi from June 1 to June 20, 2021.However, after the postponement of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 due to a coronavirus outbreak in neighbouring India, franchises asked the PCB to organise the remaining matches in the UAE.