The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the franchise owners of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) held a teleconference meeting on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing issue of hosting PSL 8 matches in Rawalpindi and Lahore.
The meeting resulted in a unanimous decision to maintain their stance from last Friday, which is that no payments should be made to the Punjab government for providing security to foreign players and teams, as it is the responsibility of the government and state organization of any country.
The PSL franchise owners have also urged the PCB to explore the possibility of taking the tournament back to the UAE or finding an entirely new venue in the United States of America (USA).
On Sunday morning, the Chairman of the PCB Management Committee, Najam Sethi, reached out to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to seek his intervention in resolving the deadlock between the board and the interim Punjab government over security expenses.
Sources reveal that Sethi explained his position to the Prime Minister, who has promised to extend his full support to the PCB chief. Sethi explained that if the provincial government does not withdraw its demand of PKR 250 million for security expenses while asking PCB to bear the remaining PKR 250 million bill, they will have to make the difficult decision of shifting the matches to Karachi.
It remains to be seen how the situation will unfold in the coming days, and whether a mutually agreeable solution can be reached to ensure the smooth running of PSL 8 matches.
