The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday announced that the Pakistan Super League (PSL), which was suspended due to a spike in global virus cases among players and officials, will resume in June.
The decision comes a week after the Twenty20 competition was called off as seven people tested positive.
Now, the cricket board, franchises, and the governing council of the PSL have reached an agreement to have the remaining 20 matches be played in Karachi, which hosted the first 14 games of the tournament.
The matches are scheduled for the June window so as to accommodate the return of the Pakistan national team players from their tour of Zimbabwe, and before they depart for England on June 26.
“This was unanimously agreed by the six franchise owners and the PCB in a virtual meeting held on Thursday afternoon and after taking into consideration all factors relating to event organization,” the PCB said in a statement.
The Pakistan cricket board is restructuring its bio-bubble after several breaches were reported this year.
“The PCB management will now look into the operational and logistical challenges and revert to the franchise owners and stakeholders,” it added.
The sixth edition of the Pakistan Super League had a few key events build-up to the eventual suspension. Peshawar Zalmi coach Darren Sammy and captain Wahab Riaz had breached the bio-secure bubble before the start of the season, while Pakistan cricketer Fawad Ahmed and England's Tom Banton went into self-isolation after testing positive for the global virus.
— Tom Banton (@TBanton18) March 3, 2021
Following the outbreak of the pandemic last year, the 2020 PSL season was suspended at the play-off stages in March but was later completed in November. PCB chief executive Wasim Khan hopes that the competition - which started on February 20 - wraps up by the end of this year.
"We want to continue and finish PSL 6, as we did with PSL 5 when we found a window and finished those matches," he said.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Asif Hassan
