PCB call off PSL on day of the semifinal
● The whole of PSL is being held in Pakistan for the first time in the league’s history.
Karachi, March 17: The ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) was on Tuesday suspended after the country’s Cricket Board revealed that a foreign showed symptoms of the dreaded COVID-19 with former captainturned-commentator Ramiz Raja claiming that it could be England’s Alex Hales.
The PSL had entered the knockout stages and semifinal matches were due to be played on Tuesday and final on Wednesday in Lahore. The PCB had also shortened the league by four days considering the worsening coronavirus situation but was forced to call it off on Tuesday.
“...this new development came after a player who left Pakistan told us that (he has) symptoms and this (decision to suspend
PSL) isn’t in light of being panicked...we made our decision after thorough deliberation,” PCB CEO Wasim Khan said.
“But before this there was no suspected case at all, which is why the decision wasn’t made before,” he added.
Pakistan’s former Test captain Raja claimed that Hales might be the player being suspected. As a precautionary measure, all PSL players and broadcasters are now being tested for the virus.
“What I know is that he is yet to have tests but we don’t know whether the symptoms he has is of Corona or not. But we all now need to be very cautious and obviously adopt a common sense approach to deal with this problem,” Raja said.
Responding to a question Khan said that the Karachi Kings team had reservations about playing in the tournament and the decision was then made after consulting all the franchises. “We have done everything to ensure health and safety of everyone because of the coronavirus and we consulted the government and health officials in all decisions,” he said. —
● PCB announced that the remaining PSL 2020 matches will be rescheduled later.