Pakistan fears cricket players will stay away after bombing kills 13

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan cricket fans fear foreign players will avoid competing in the Pakistan Super League final in Lahore after a suicide bomber killed 13 people there on Monday.

The five-team PSL began last week in the United Arab Emirates, and the final on March 5 is set for Lahore.

The Pakistan Cricket Board wanted to prove how safe Lahore is since a terrorist attack in 2009 against the Sri Lanka team put off all major international teams, and last week it guaranteed “foolproof security” for the PSL finalists. But a bomber targeting police escorting a rally by pharmacists likely ruined those hopes.

“I wanted the whole PSL in Pakistan, not only just the final,” cricketer-turnedpolitician Imran Khan said in Lahore on Tuesday. “But the problem is that when terrorism happens, it gets highlighted more, and foreigners get scared.”

Before the bombing, PSL chair Najam Sethi was confident a large number of foreign players would appear in the final.

“Obviously, people will be more wary and scared — they were already and now will be more,” Sethi said late Monday. “Now I will have to start all over again. I cannot say that we will be successful or not.”

Sethi said he now wants to poll the Pakistan public, and let them decide whether they want to see the final in Lahore — most likely without foreign players — or Dubai again probably with overseas players.

Last month, the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association warned foreign players not to travel to Pakistan.