–Defending champs Islamabad United face Lahore Qalandars in PSL opening match
DUBAI: The stage is set for a star-studded opening ceremony of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) season four with local and international cricketers all gathered in Dubai with celebrities from around the world to witness the country’s premium sporting event.
The PSL opening ceremony would take place on Thursday after which the first match would be played between defending champions Islamabad United and Lahore Qalandars.
Multan Sultan’s Shahid Afridi, Quetta Gladiators’ Rilee Roussow and Fawad Ahmed and Karachi Kings’ Colin Ingram have joined their teams in Dubai. Earlier, Qalandars’ AB de Villiers had also joined his side.
Out of a total 34 T20 games, eight matches including final would be held in Pakistan.
Three cities of United Arab Emirates (UAE) including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah would host 26 matches in total while five matches would be played in National Stadium Karachi.
Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium would host three matches during the Pakistan leg of the tournament.
PSL OPENING CEREMONY:
Famous American rapper Pitbull and Euro-Caribbean vocal group Boney M are among the star performers of the PSL 4 opening ceremony.
Scheduled to be staged in Dubai on February 14 at 8pm, the star-studded ceremony will also feature celebrated Pakistani band Junoon, singer-turned-actor Fawad Khan, Coke Studio fame singer Aima Baig and famous composer Shuja Haider.
Moreover, cricket fans will be enthralled with fireworks and other festivities.
UNITED FACE QALANDARS:
Defending champs United led by their new captain Mohammad Sami will face a rebuilt Lahore Qalandars side which will be captained by Mohammad Hafeez during this edition of the league. Both teams exhibit both local and foreign talent and it is expected to be an exciting contest.
While Qalandars have AB de Villiers, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez and Shaheen Afridi, players like Luke Ronchi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Sami, Cameron Delport, Philip Salt and Faheem Ashraf make United standout in every passing edition.
URDU COMMENTARY:
Radio Pakistan will broadcast live ball-to-ball running commentary of PSL 2019 from its medium wave network across the country.
The commentary will be broadcast from Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Multan, Bahawalpur, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Quetta, DI Khan, Skardu, and Gilgit stations. FM 101 network of the Radio Pakistan will also broadcast live updates of PSL during their normal transmission.
According to Pakistan Standard Time, the running commentary of the matches will be broadcast live from Radio Pakistan stations daily at 4:30 pm and 9:00 pm. The opening match will start on Thursday at 10:00 pm.
CANCER AWARENESS:
The PSL will observe Childhood Cancer Awareness and Breast Cancer Awareness Days, a press release said.
The Childhood Cancer Awareness Day will be observed on February 15 – on the International Childhood Cancer Awareness Day.
All the commentators and teams playing that day will wear Golden Ribbon synonymous with Childhood Cancer Awareness. The Dubai International Stadium, the venue for the matches on February 15, as well as the match stumps, will also be themed accordingly.
On March 10, all the commentators and playing teams will wear Pink Ribbon to show solidarity with breast cancer patients.
