Rattled by multiple Indian military strikes in Pakistan, the country’s Cricket Board has called an emergency meeting to discuss whether the ongoing Pakistan Super League, which features a number of foreign players, should be halted.
The T20 league, which features six franchises and is in its final stages, is currently being staged in Rawalpindi. It is scheduled to wind up on May 18 in Lahore.
A reliable source in the Board said the PCB would follow the advice from the government on continuing the league, and it would be holding discussions later on Thursday.
“The meeting will review the situation because of the number of drone attacks by India since Wednesday, especially in the Punjab province,” the source said.
PSL CEO Salman Naseer also met with the overseas players in Rawalpindi and assured them that they had nothing to worry about as the PCB is closely monitoring the situation.
Some of the big international names who have signed up for the league are David Warner (Karachi Kings), Jason Holder (Islamabad United), and Rassie van der Dussen (Islamabad United), among others.
“Naturally, the current scenario may have come under discussion.The players have been given a heavy security blanket by the Pakistan Army,” PCB spokesperson Amir Mir said.
“There have been surgical strikes on both sides of the border but we don’t expect that to affect the PSL. But if, God forbid, things do escalate, we will sit together to decide our next step,” he added.
India’s military strikes are in retaliation to the April 22 terrorist attack in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were gunned down in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam.
After successful missile attacks on nine locations in Pakistan to dismantle terror infrastructure, India on Thursday said it foiled attempts by the Pakistani military to engage a number of military targets in Northern and Western India using drones and missiles.
The country’s defence forces also destroyed a Pakistani air defence system in Lahore, officials said on Thursday.
The Pakistani military attempted to target Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj, they said.