Latest News

Back to Latest News back

 

Remainder of Pakistan Super League season to be played in Abu Dhabi

Remainder of Pakistan Super League season to be played in Abu Dhabi
May 25, 2021

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced that the remainder of Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021 will be completed in Abu Dhabi in June, ending fears that the competition’s sixth season may not have been completed.

Having last week deferred a decision on the fate of the season by 24 hours as it sought critical exemptions from the Abu Dhabi Government, the Lahore-based PCB Is now talking to the competition’s six franchises to rework logistics and agree a start date.

With players, officials and broadcast and production staff set to relocate from Pakistan as well as India and South Africa, the United Arab Emirates travel restrictions are likely to require arrivals to quarantine for 10 days in separate hotel.

In addition, players from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will go to Pakistan, and travel onto the UAE by chartered flights.

PCB Chief Executive, Wasim Khan advised in a statement “we are delighted with this development as the remaining hurdles in the staging of the remaining HBL PSL six matches in Abu Dhabi have been overcome and all systems are now good to go. We are grateful to the UAE Government, National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority, Emirates Cricket Board and Abu Dhabi Sports Council for their support and patronage in ensuring all final obstacles were removed, which has firmly put us in a position to complete our marquee event. The PCB, in consultation with the team owners, will now work at pace to finalize all event-related arrangements, details of which will be shared in due course.”

The games will be played at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Stadium without fans, despite the UAE has been allowing limited numbers back for sports events.

In an indication of the keenness to ensure the season goes ahead, the PCB has agreed to bear the incremental costs of the PSL being shifted to Abu Dhabi.

This has been the second season in a row the League had been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, though in 2020 the Board were able to rearrange the outstanding final games in November.

The Pakistan Super League is a professional Twenty20 cricket league contested during February and March of every year by six teams representing six Cities in Pakistan. Founded in 2015, it includes six teams.

The 2020 Indian Premier League cricket tournament was played in the UAE between September and November last year, with the Arabian Gulf nation also suggested as a potential standby venue for the T20 World Cup 2021.

Image: The season will be played out at Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

Related Articles

4th May 2021 - Player Coronavirus infections sees suspension of Indian Premier League

30th April 2021 - Indian Premier League continues despite massive rise in COVID deaths

9th April 2021 - ICC to proceed with Men’s Twenty20 World Cup in India

9th March 2021 - Indian Premier League to return to the subcontinent in 2021

21st July 2020 - BCCI looks to stage rescheduled 2020 Indian Premier League in the UAE

9th April 2020 - Coronavirus pandemic halts Pakistani cricket

5th April 2020 - Pakistan Cricket Board wants to host International Cricket Council event to cover losses

15th November 2019 - Pakistan to again host Test cricket after 10 year gap

17th August 2018 - Former Pakistan cricketer banned for 10 years over spot-fixing

27th April 2021 - Abu Dhabi Government champions new tourism quality controls

28th September 2020 - UFC Fight Island returns to Abu Dhabi

31st August 2020 - Abu Dhabi Government advances ‘safe zone’ concept for large scale events

24th July 2020 - UFC’s Abu Dhabi Fight Nights ‘absolutely a win’

10th December 2017 - Dubai Parks and Zayed University encourage young Emiratis to consider leisure industry careers