PSL 2021 in Abu Dhabi – a disaster waiting to happen?

This year’s edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) has become a major headache for the Pakistan Cricket Board, the franchises and almost everybody associated with it.

You can blame it on the pandemic but things have been aggravated due to the lack of planning and professionalism on the part of the PCB.

Such was the situation till Wednesday night that nobody was sure as to when the PSL, which had to be postponed earlier this year because of a surge in Covid-19 cases in Pakistan, will resume.

That’s not all.

Nobody was even sure whether the remaining matches of the T20 league will be staged in Abu Dhabi or the PCB will be forced to relocate it to Sharjah.

Then there is the question of the league’s scheduling. Because of the uncertainty, the Board has been unable to finalise the schedule and till Wednesday night there were three different schedules with the best case scenario allowing the matches to resume on June 7 in Abu Dhabi, where the players and officials associated with the PSL are already in isolation.

If this doesn’t work out then the league will resume on the 8th, otherwise on the 9th of June. Then if things don’t work out with the authorities in Abu Dhabi then the Board will be forced to move the matches to the friendlier Emirate of Sharjah.

The worst case scenario is that the PCB could be forced to call off the league but according to a top official associated with PSL “nobody is even thinking about such a catastrophe.”

So how did the PCB, with all its claims of promoting professionalism within its set-up, messed it up so badly?

According to well-placed sources, the rot begins at the very top.

“It all began when the PCB decided to opt for Abu Dhabi as the venue for the remaining matches of the PSL,” said a reliable source. “When it comes to Covid-19, Abu Dhabi has the strictest SOPs in the entire region. So it was a disaster waiting to happen,” said a source.

So why did PCB opt for Abu Dhabi instead of Sharjah? According to the source, it was Ehsan Mani, the PCB chairman, who made the call. “It could be because a close relative of the chairman is associated with the cricket set-up in Abu Dhabi,” the source said.

Then the PCB made things even worse by failing to make all out efforts for the smooth arrangements in Abu Dhabi ahead of the players’ arrival there.

“PCB’s top brass should have come to Abu Dhabi to ensure that the PSL takes place here as smoothly as possible. Unfortunately, the Board sent a bunch of relatively inexperienced officials to Abu Dhabi to sort things out. It’s quite clear that they failed miserably.”

While Mani and Wasim Khan, PCB’s CEO, decided against playing any direct role in doing the spade work ahead of the PSL matches, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) chiefs have opted for a more hands-on approach.

According to sources, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has been meeting big shots in the UAE, paving the path for successful staging of the remaining matches of the Indian Premier League (IPL) there later this year.

This lack of competence and foresight on part of the PCB hasn’t gone unnoticed. According to sources, several franchise owners are extremely unhappy with the Board. Some of them are even contemplating the idea of sending their complaints to Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Board’s patron-in-chief.

“Such poor performance by the PCB reflects poorly on the Prime Minister,” a top official of a PSL franchise told ‘The News’ requesting anonymity. “After all it was him (Imran) who handpicked top PCB officials like Mani to run Pakistan cricket,” he said.

“The Board is spending millions to hold the PSL but you can’t do a good job by just dishing out the cash. You need competence and proper planning to carry out such tasks. Unfortunately, in this case, the PCB has failed to do that so far.”

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