The Pakistan Super League final is likely to be held on March 9, next year. 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.
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, “If some foreign players among the finalists were not willing to play in Pakistan, then the franchises would be allowed to pick from a pool of foreign players who were ready to play in Pakistan.”
It is very crucial for cricket to return to Pakistan and since the attack, Zimbabwe became the first Full-Member nation to visit Pakistan, but the ICC refused to send the match officials in May 2015, for the series.
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Pakistan went to an extent to appoint their own match officials, hoping that the Zimbabwe series will revive international cricket in the country. It failed eventually due to the suicide attack near the Gaddafi Stadium during the second ODI. Though, Zimbabwe completed the series, Pakistan remains an untenable international venue.
Sethi added, "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."
Hoping to host PSL final in Lahore is another step to revive international cricket in Pakistan. Sethi further said, “Look, it is only a question of one day in Lahore,"
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"We can organise 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. Most importantly, the government has succeeded in uprooting most terrorist groups from Punjab. This fact is not lost on the ICC members. Foreign teams will come to Pakistan step by step. Ireland is ready to visit on the right financial terms because Zimbabwe showed the way.”
“I personally think that by next year we should be able to hold T20 and ODI matches in Lahore or Karachi with foreign teams."
PCB tried to convince the top agencies initially to play the first season of the PSL in Pakistan. Sadly, the response was overwhelmingly negative, and the board had to shift the tournament to the UAE.
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