KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Friday it was holding an emergency meeting this afternoon to “discuss the way forward” after the Punjab government reportedly demanded the PCB pay over Rs450 million for security arrangements to host the remaining matches of the Pakistan Super League.
The first leg of the Twenty20 cricket league contested by six teams saw matches being held in Multan and Karachi. The second leg will see the tournament move to Lahore and Rawalpindi in Punjab province.
On Thursday, cricket website ESPNcricinfo said the remainder of the PSL might be moved in its entirety to Karachi after a financial dispute arose between the PCB and the interim Punjab government.
The dispute reportedly concerns how to split the security costs of hosting the tournament, with the interim Punjab government demanding that the PCB pay Rs450 million in security costs to host the tournament in Lahore and Rawalpindi. That amount also includes the costs the government has already incurred for hosting matches in Multan.
The PCB had an agreement to pay only Rs50 million with the previous government of Punjab, which was dissolved in the last week of January and the board has already paid that amount as agreed.
When asked if matches would be moved entirely to Karachi because of the financial dispute, a PCB spokesperson said:
"There is a meeting between the PCB and the six franchises at 3pm to discuss the way forward.”
Declining to share more details, he said the owners of the six PSL franchises would join the meeting via Zoom.
Rawalpindi, with 11 games, has the hosting rights of most PSL 8 matches this season while Lahore was to host the playoffs and the final of the tournament at the city's Gaddafi Stadium. The final is scheduled for March 19.
According to ESPNcricinfo, the PCB is reluctant to foot the bill for security and says this is the responsibility of the local government.
“A PCB official pointed out that the government had picked up the security tab for hosting cricket in the province in the past, too, and that the financial burden of the security costs would be too onerous.” the cricket website said.
“If the PCB were required to pay that money, there is understood to be an expectation that the franchise owners, too, would foot part of that bill. Moving the whole tournament to Karachi would, in that event, save both stakeholders money.”
But the PCB and the franchise owners are reportedly not on the same page. A franchise owner ESPNcricinfo spoke to was against any change of schedule, saying it was inappropriate of the PCB to draw the franchise owners into a disagreement between itself and the Punjab government.