DUBAI // Pakistani cricket officials have vowed to stage the final of their Twenty20 league in Lahore next month, despite a powerful Taliban suicide bomb blast which killed 13 people there this week.
The first two rounds of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) are being played in Dubai and Sharjah, but organisers had planned the March 5 final in the eastern Pakistani city, vowing “head of state security” for international players.
However multiple Taliban suicide attacks in Pakistan this week, including Monday’s bomb in Lahore, put those plans in jeopardy.
“We are committed to hosting the final in Lahore as our people want it there and it will be a step towards reviving international cricket,” PSL chairman Najam Sethi told Agence France-Presse on Thursday. “VVIP security is ensured.”
The violence-hit country has not hosted a high-profile foreign team since a 2009 gun and bomb attack on the Sri Lankan cricket side that killed eight people and injured nine others, including visiting players.
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Sethi said international players competing in the PSL – a list which includes former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, West Indian stars Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo, Australia’s Shane Watson, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan and England’s Twenty20 captain Eoin Morgan – would be asked by February 22 if they are willing to go to Lahore should their team make the final.
“After that those who do not want to go will be replaced with other foreign players who are available for Lahore,” he said.
Officials have already said players will be provided with bullet-proof buses and heavy police protection, among other high-level security measures.
Five teams – Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars, Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators – are taking part in the league, which reported a healthy US$2.6 million (Dh9.54m) profit last year despite being held entirely in the UAE.
Pakistan has seen a dramatic improvement in security in the last two years thanks to a military and government crackdown on extremism.
But groups like the Pakistani Taliban retain the ability to carry out spectacular attacks.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has tried to convince the West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and Sri Lanka to play in Pakistan in the last five years, but all declined over security fears.
PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said on Thursday suspended cricketers Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif will be formally indicted for spot-fixing.
Sharjeel and Latif had informal meetings with officials of the PCB’s anti-corruption unit in Lahore over the past two days, during which the players asked for time to consult their families before giving their statements.
“We will formally record their statements on video and then indict them in a day or two,” Shaharyar said. “We have to be very careful and make sure the legal process is complete. Legally our stance should be watertight because these players might go to the court.”
Last Friday, the PCB provisionally suspended both players, who represented Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League.
On Monday Britain’s National Crime Authority arrested two men, one of them believed to be former Pakistan opening batsman Nasir Jamshed, before releasing them on bail in connection with spot-fixing in the PSL.
The PCB suspended Jamshed from playing any form of cricket.
The officials of the PSL and PCB claimed to have concrete evidence against both Sharjeel and Latif of involvement in spot-fixing during the PSL.
Three more players – Islamabad United’s Mohammed Irfan, Quetta Gladiators’ Zulfiqar Babar and Karachi Kings’ Shazaib Hassan were questioned by the PCB’s anti-corruption unit, but none of them were suspended.
* Agence France-Presse
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