PSL 2021 to restart from June 9 in Abu Dhabi
PSL to start from June 9 in UAE
|The 2021 edition of the Pakistan Super League, which was postponed earlier, owing to COVID-19, will resume from June 9 in Abu Dhabi, the PCB confirmed. The teams will be able to start their training sessions from June 3 onwards, while the tournament finale will be played on June 24.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), on Thursday, confirmed that the PSL will resume from June 9 at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The tournament was shifted to the Middle East after Pakistan, which was hosting the complete tournament for the first time, failed to do so, owing to positive COVID cases in bubbles.
Earlier, only 15 matches were completed and now the Middle East would host the remainder of the tournament. The grand finale of the tournament will take place on June 24 and the league will have six double-headers.Ā
The teams can start training from June 3, which will continue till June 8 after which the tournament commences with the first match between Islamabad United and Lahore Qalandars on June 9. The double-headers will be staged on June 10, 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21 (Qualifier and Eliminator 1).Ā The PCB chief Wasim Khan stated that he was hopeful of completing the tournament this time around and added that the board is prepared to deal with all the possible challenges.Ā
"There was a consensus between the PCB and the franchises that it was imperative to complete the remaining matches in 2021 so that we have a clean 2022 for HBL PSL 7. Now, after overcoming all obstacles through due diligence and careful planning, I believe we have collectively achieved the desired objective that was set in March following the postponement," Wasim Khan said, reported Cricbuzz.
He further stated that the board always wanted to host the tournament in Pakistan but they had no choice after what happened earlier this year.Ā
"I can assure all the fans that our priority was always to deliver the complete tournament in Pakistan. However, due to extenuating circumstances, we had to shift from that thinking for the remaining matches."
