Sixth edition of Pakistan Super League is facing flight delays and logistical problems are being discussed by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) with the franchise owners.
PSL contingent of 233 participants including players, support staff, broadcasting crew and PCB officials are still in Lahore and Karachi hotels after another delay in flight. The flight to Abu Dhabi has been delayed thrice in the last 36 hours which is brewing confusion, however, PCB has informed in the latest update that flights from Karachi and Lahore will leave at 5 pm today.
The 25 PSL participants in Lahore and Karachi hotels haven’t got their visas and are still inside the bio-secure bubble.
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There was an urgent meeting called earlier today between PCB and franchises owners. In the online meeting, the franchise stakeholders were informed about the delay of South Africa and India’s technical staff chartered flights and PCB reiterated its resolve to solve all impending issues, taking all concerned into confidence. The backup plan of moving matches to Sharjah was also reportedly brought up in the meeting.
In a statement issued after the meeting, the PCB said the franchises were updated on the unanticipated delays in the grant of landing permissions for chartered flights from India and South Africa.
“The PCB is exploring all possible solutions to overcome these hurdles,” the statement read, adding that flights from Karachi and Lahore will depart today as per schedule.
Reportedly, the broadcast crew from India and South Africa was not given permission to land in Abu Dhabi and now the PCB will make alternative arrangements and officials from those countries which are not on the red list will be engaged for the league.
“The visas of at least four individuals are still awaited and they will depart for Abu Dhabi later.”
The statement added that holding the remaining 20 PSL matches was proving difficult under the current circumstances.
According to a report, another meeting of the PCB and franchise owners will be held in the evening.
This is the third time the players and officials’ departure for the UAE has been postponed.
The flight was previously scheduled to leave for the UAE at 8:00 am on Wednesday, which was later rescheduled to Thursday, 3 pm.
And now the players and officials present at the hotels in Karachi and Lahore will fly for the UAE at 5pm.
Former Pakistan cricketer and commentator Ramiz Raja had said that they will leave for the airport at 3pm.
“Lot of speculations regarding the PSL on TV news channels. Latest on PSL travel is that we are moving out from the hotel at 3pm to go to the airport. So all is good.”
Meanwhile, players and other staff have checked out from the hotel in Karachi and have departed for the airport.
