In an another setback to the efforts of reviving cricket in the country, majority of foreign cricketers have reportedly refused to stay for a longer period of time in Pakistan for the fifth season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) next year.
Official sources of the league have confirmed that because of this reason the franchise owners wanted staging half of the mega national cricketing event in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2020 as they felt that hosting the entire season in the country was not viable.
This is going to be a big blow to all the hopes to revitalise the most favourite game of the nation and they would not be able to watch it live in stadiums near their houses. Previously also, foreign players had expressed concern over playing in the country for fear of security, while a team of the International Cricket Council had last year visited here and gave security clearance for the PSL matches.
According to Daily Express, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani is adamant that there were no reservations pertaining to holding the entire PSL edition in Pakistan.
He said he had taken consent of the PCB patron-in-chief in this regard after discussing the matter with all the team owners. He said he had invited the franchise owners for a meeting on Monday in Lahore to discuss this matter again.
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“Till now, no franchise has shown any reservations, so there is no possibility of shifting the matches anywhere else,” he said.
When asked about the Multan Sultans’ playing the fourth edition of the national league without paying franchise fees, the chairman PCB said that they were not given any preferential treatment and they were in compliance with their franchise agreement. However, he refused to comment any further on this issues saying that he could not share other details of the agreement.
