International cricket stars could return to Pakistani soil next March, almost eight years after the 2009 incident as the ‘Pakistan Super League’ final is likely to be held on March 9, next year in Lahore. According to Najam Sethi, the chairman of the PSL and executive committee head of the Pakistan Cricket Board has asked the government of Punjab to start a process so that the PSL final can be held in Lahore.
"All systems being put in place," Sethi told ESPNcricinfo. "We are in the process of signing up top foreign players who are ready to play in Lahore if their team gets into the final. All we need are ten top foreign players. If there are some foreign players among the finalists who are not prepared to play in Lahore, we will have an arrangement with others who don't make it to the finals, and facilitate the finalist franchisees to select from that pool of players who are available to play in Lahore."
In order to convince foreign players to play in the upcoming Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) final in Lahore, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had reportedly offered extra financial reward to overseas recruits and better accommodation facilities at National Cricket Academy (NCA).
Ever since the terrorists attacked Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009, Pakistan is avoided as an international venue. Sethi is trying to change the scenario and is quite determined to do so, as he was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying. “Since the attack on Sri Lankan team in March seven years ago, no international team has visit Pakistan. The Greens are hosting their matches at United Arab Emirates.” However, Pakistan managed to host Zimbabwe last year. Zimbabwe was the first full member team to visit the region but no International Cricket Council officials were present for the ODI series.
The effort to host the PSL final in Lahore is another step towards bringing top-flight cricket back to Pakistan, and it is at a primary stage. "We can organize fool-proof security. The teams can be flown in and out within 24 hours. We have four armoured buses for transportation and the Punjab police have already demonstrated its efficiency in this regard when Zimbabwe toured last year,” Sethi said.
Previous media release mentioned that some overseas players have already agreed to play final of PSL T20 in Pakistan. ‘Andre Russel’ was the first foreign player who had expressed his willingness to play PSL 2017 in Pakistan during PSL2016. ‘Shane Watson’ from Australia and ‘Darren Sammy’ from West Indies had also shown interest in playing in Pakistan subject to security clearance. Such assurance from foreign players will encourage others too. Najam Sethi promised that final in Lahore will be much bigger than the one in UAE in last edition of PSL T20.
Comments
Comments are closed.