PAKISTAN SUPER LEAGUE (PSL) will begin its new season on 26 March, although fans will not be allowed inside stadiums for at least the initial matches. The tournament will also be staged at only two venues, Karachi and Lahore, while the planned opening ceremony has been cancelled.
The measures come as an indirect consequence of the ongoing war involving Israel and the United States against Iran, which has disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The conflict in West Asia has triggered a fuel crisis in Pakistan, prompting the government to restrict public movement across the country.
Explaining the decision, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi, said the move was taken in line with directives from the government, “The Prime Minister requested all of Pakistan to restrict their movements because of the fuel crisis. We closed schools and instituted work from home and increased the number of Eid holidays. We don’t know how long this war will last. Looking at all of this and after discussions with security agencies, we decided that the PSL would continue as per the original schedule. But we can’t ask people to restrict their movements and then have 30,000 people in stadiums for PSL games every day. We decided that as long as this crisis is ongoing, we will not have crowds at matches. This was a difficult decision, but it needed to be made. The opening ceremony will also be cancelled.”
The PCB has also announced that it will attempt to compensate the eight franchises by paying them the estimated gate revenue from the originally scheduled venues: Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Multan.
