LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shahryar Khan pledged on Sunday that the final of Pakistan Super League 2017 will be held in Lahore, irrespective of whether overseas players play the final or not.
Talking informally to the media at the Gaddafi Stadium, Shahryar Khan said the PSL 2017 final will be played in Lahore on March 9 even if overseas players do not visit the country.
The PCB chairman said Giles Clarke, head of the ICC Task Force on Pakistan, will visit Pakistan on January 28. Clarke, who is also the ECB president, along with his delegation will be briefed on the security arrangements.
Shahryar Khan added that the PCB is in talks with the West Indies Cricket Board and is trying to convince their team to tour Pakistan.
“We hope the West Indies team will agree to visit Pakistan for a series,” the chairman said.
The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) earlier this month issued a report cautioning foreign players that “an acceptable level of participant security and safety cannot be expected or guaranteed” for PSL 2017 final in Lahore.
In the report, FICA warned that the risk level in Pakistan remains “at an extremely elevated state”. The report suggested that overseas players decline to participate in the final due to concerns over player safety.
The PCB rejected the report and slammed it as a “great disservice to the cause of cricket in general and Pakistan cricket in particular.”
“FICA has done great disservice to the cause of cricket in general and Pakistan cricket in particular by advising players not to play in the PSL Final in Lahore next March because of security reasons,” the PCB said in a statement.