PCB gets PSL clearance from Abu Dhabi government on one condition

The Pakistan Cricket Board is set to hold a meeting with all six Pakistan Super League franchises to make the final call on the curtailed edition of the league’s 6th edition. The meeting expected to take place later in the day will discuss all possibilities around the season, which was abruptly paused after 14 fixtures in the wake of Covid-19 cases reported inside the PSL bubble.

An upsurge of cases in Pakistan has been a primary concern of the franchises, who had collectively requested the PCB to conduct the remainder of the tournament in UAE instead of Karachi. It is learned that the PCB has acquired all clearances and government nod to hold the remaining 20 games of the season in the gulf country.

However, the pre-condition for the same as decided by the UAE government has been to ensure that every stakeholder involved in the league from players to officials to broadcast and production staff should have been vaccinated against Covid-19. That remains a challenge as the teams and broadcast member are people from around the world, and the vaccination campaigns are at a different stage of roll-out.

PSL unlikely to start from June 1

While other details of how the PSL will be carried out are awaited, the management will also need to tackle the travel complications with various incoming travel restrictions in place in the UAE for flights from several countries. As per the rescheduling, the league is set to commence from June 1, although given the quarantine protocols in place both in Pakistan and Abu Dhabi, it seems highly unlikely that it will start then.

All franchises and the staff involved in the league have been asked to keep their pre-departure plans on hold, which were due to start today, with pre-departure hotel check-ins in Lahore and Karachi on May 20. They have been told that departure from Pakistan has been delayed.

CricTracker understands that the PCB is currently focusing on the operational aspect of the league, figuring out how to take the players to the destination safely and ensure the abidance of all the Standard Operating Procedures as per UAE.