The Pakistan Super League (PSL) final will be held in Pakistan instead of the UAE in March as international cricket gradually returns to the country.
The inaugural PSL was played exclusively in the UAE last year, and while the group and playoff stages will continue to be shared between the Sharjah Cricket Stadium and the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the March 7 showpiece will be held at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
International cricket returned to Pakistan in 2015 for the first time since the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka team bus that injured six players, killed six security personnel and two civilians.
On that occasion it was Zimbabwe who agreed to a three-match one day international series and two Twenty20 matches. However, no other Test teams have visited the country since.
Since the 2009 attack, Pakistan have played all their home series in the UAE and launched their own T20 league in the Emirates last year, a tournament that proved a success.
“We will host the final in Lahore on March 7,” the PCB’s executive committee chairman Najam Sethi told Reuters. “We are going full steam ahead, and have all the green signals.”
Last week, Giles Clarke, the head of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Pakistan Task Force, arrived in the country on a two-day fact-finding mission on security.
“We’ve been able to see very significant work that has been invested in, and invested very wisely in how safety and security will be made possible for visiting international cricket teams,” Clarke said.
“There’s a considerable amount of perception that needs to be changed and information that needs to be shared. But I am most impressed by the efforts of the authorities to make Lahore a safe city.”
A senior PCB official said the PSL final would be hosted in Lahore “for sure, but only if there is no big security related incident from now to Feb. 9,” when the league kicks off in the UAE.
Last year, the PCB sold five franchises for $93 million (Dh341.6m) and attracted players from 11 different countries, including big names like West Indies batsman Chris Gayle and former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara and England’s Kevin Pietersen.
National television viewing figures were higher than for the 2015 World Cup, with 55 per cent of Pakistan’s TV-watching public tuning into the tournament at peak times.
The 2017 PSL will start on February 9 with defending champions Islamabad United taking on Peshawar Zalmi at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
* Agencies
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
