Foreign players prompt PCB to move PSL to Dubai amid Indo-Pak tensions

New Delhi: Escalating tensions between India and Pakistan have led the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to relocate the remainder of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) to Dubai, following security concerns raised by foreign players.

In an emergency meeting chaired by PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi and attended by representatives from all six franchises, concerns expressed by overseas players were presented and ultimately prompted the decision to shift the league out of Pakistan.

“Considering the safety and mental health of all the players involved in the PSL, the league is shifted to Dubai, where remaining matches will be held under a new schedule. Foreign players will flow to Dubai early Friday,” the PCB informed franchises in a letter, according to www.telecomasia.net.

“The meeting looked at the option of moving the remaining eight matches — four league and as many play-offs — to Karachi but foreign players were not ready to stay in Pakistan after security concerns from several countries,” sources said.

Thirty-seven foreign players are involved in the League. From England, Sam Billings, James Vince, Tom Curran, David Willey, Chris Jordan, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Luke Wood are part of the PSL.

David Warner, Mitchell Owen, Riley Meredith, Ben McDermott, Max Bryant, Ashton Turner, Sean Abbott and Ben Dwarshuis are from Australia, while New Zealand’s Finn Allen, Daryl Mitchlee, Michael Bracewell, Colin Munro, Mark Chapman, Tim Siefert, Kyle Jamieson and Kane Williamson are also in the League.

Others included West Indians Kyle Mayers, Jason Holder, Alzari Joseph, Akeal Hosein and Shai Hope, Bangladesh’s Rishad Hossain and Nahid Rana, USA’s Andries Gous, Sri Lankan Kusal Mendis and Kusal Prera, Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi and Najibullah Zadran, Ireland’s Curtis Campher and Josh Little, Zimbabwe’s Sikander Raza and Namibia’s David Wiese.

England’s Willy and Jordon have already arranged their return to Dubai after their team Multan Sultans failed to reach the play-offs while Australian and New Zealand players are not ready to stay in the country.

Earlier, a PSL match between Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings, scheduled for Thursday evening at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, was cancelled after Indian Armed Forces targeted the Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations, including Rawalpindi.

After India launched precision strikes targeting nine high-value terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Pok), in response to the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam that claimed 26 lives, Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in Northern and Western India on May 7-8.

India on Thursday morning targeted the Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan, during which the one at Lahore has been neutralised.

IANS