NEW DELHI: The Pakistan Super League (PSL) will move its remaining matches to the United Arab Emirates in the wake of Pakistan’s ongoing conflict with India, the country’s cricket board chief Mohsin Naqvi said on Friday.
Thursday’s PSL match in Rawalpindi was postponed amid escalating hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbors, and Naqvi said the decision to move the last eight games was made to ensure players avoid “possible reckless targeting.”
Across the border, India’s cricket board is considering suspending the Indian Premier League (IPL) amid the rising tensions, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
IPL organizers have said they are awaiting government advice before determining the fate of the remainder of the hugely popular Twenty20 tournament.
“The PCB has always stood by the position that politics and sports need to be kept apart,” Naqvi, also Pakistan’s interior minister, said in a statement.
“As a responsible organization that has overcome adversities repeatedly and ensured that the game of cricket flourishes, it was important for us to ensure the mental well-being of all players participating in the PSL.”
India’s cricket board (BCCI) has moved Sunday’s IPL match in Dharamsala near the Pakistan border to Ahmedabad in the west. A match at the same venue in the northern city was abandoned midway due to what officials said was a power failure.
Vice president Rajeev Shukla said they were waiting for government advice on Friday.
“The situation is changing day by day,” Shukla told the Indian Express newspaper.
“We will do whatever we are told and inform all stakeholders. At the moment, our priority is the safety of all players, fans and other stakeholders.”
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia had told Reuters on Thursday that the IPL’s foreign players were “comfortable” to continue playing. He did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.
The two countries have been clashing since India struck multiple locations in Pakistan on Wednesday that it said were “terrorist camps” in retaliation for a deadly attack in its restive region of Kashmir last month, in which it said Islamabad was involved.
Pakistan denied the accusation but both countries have exchanged cross-border firing and shelling and sent drones and missiles into each other’s airspace since then, with nearly four dozen people dying in the violence.
Pakistan moves T20 league, India’s IPL awaits government advice
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Pakistan moves T20 league, India’s IPL awaits government advice
- IPL organizers have said they are awaiting government advice before determining the fate of the remainder of the hugely popular Twenty20 tournament
A powerful rivalry: Sabalenka and Svitolina set for Australian Open semifinal showdown
- Top-ranked Sabalenka, who is seeking a third title in four years in Australia, is from Belarus
- Players from Ukraine do not shake hands with players from Russia or Belarus at the net after matches
MELBOURNE: Naturally there’ll be attention on the backstory when Aryna Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina meet in the Australian Open women’s semifinals.
Top-ranked Sabalenka, who is seeking a third title in four years in Australia, is a 27-year-old from Belarus. She’s popular on TikTok for her humorous posts and dance routines.
Svitolina is a 31-year-old Ukrainian who will be returning to the Top 10 next week for the first time since returning from a maternity break she took in 2022. She reached her first Australian Open semifinal with a lopsided win over No. 3 Coco Gauff, needing only 59 minutes to end her run of three quarterfinal losses at Melbourne Park.
They’re both regularly asked questions relating to Russia’s war on Ukraine. Both have regularly said they want the focus to be on tennis. Svitolina is trying to bring joy to the people of Ukraine, of course. Sabalenka said she supports peace.
“It’s very close to my heart to see a lot of support from Ukrainians,” she said. “So I feel like (I) bring this light, a little light, you know, even just positive news to Ukrainian people, to my friends when they are watching.”
Players from Ukraine don’t shake hands with players from Russia or Belarus at the net after matches. It’s accepted on both sides.
They’re both on 10-match winning streaks so far in 2026 and entered the season’s first major with titles in warmup tournaments — Sabalenka in Brisbane, and Svitolina in Auckland, New Zealand, her 19th career title. That was Svitolina’s first foray back after an early end to the 2025 season for a mental health break.
Sabalenka, who has 22 career titles including back-to-back Australian championships in 2023 and ‘24 and back-to-back US Open triumphs in 2024 and last year, is 5-1 in career meetings with Svitolina. She is into the final 4 at a major for the 14th time, and has made the final seven times.
“It’s no secret that she’s a very powerful player. I watched a little bit of her (quarterfinal) match. She was playing great tennis, and I think, the power on all aspects of her game is her strengths,” Svitolina said of Sabalenka. “She’s very consistent. For me, I’ll have to ... try to find the ways and the little holes, little opportunities in her game.
“When you play the top players, you have to find these small opportunities and then be ready to take them.”
Svitolina is playing her fourth semifinal at a major — 2019 and 2023 at Wimbledon and the 2019 US Open — and aiming for her first final.
Sabalenka played her quarterfinal against 18-year-old Iva Jovic before the searing heat forced organizers to close the roof of the Rod Laver Arena stadium on Tuesday. She was long gone before Svitolina and Guaff played under the roof at night. At that stage, she didn’t know who she’d next be playing, but was sure “it’s going to be a battle.”
“Because whoever makes it there, it’s an incredible player,” she said. “I think my approach going to be the same. Doesn’t matter who I’m facing.
“I’ll just go, and I’ll be focused on myself and on my game.”
Rybakina-Pegula, 5 vs. 6
Sixth-seeded Jessica Pegula completed the final 4 when she held off fellow American Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 7-6 (1) to move into a semifinal against 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
Pegula beat 2025 champion Madison Keys in the previous round before ending Anisimova’s run of back-to-back Grand Slam finals.
The sixth-seeded Pegula is hoping to emulate Keys’ run here last year and claim her maiden Grand Slam title in Australia.
“I’ve been waiting for the time when I can kind of break through,” Pegula said. “I feel like I really play some good tennis here and I like the conditions.”
With a 7-5, 6-1 victory in the center court opener Wednesday, Rybakina, the 2023 Australian Open runner-up, ended No. 2-ranked Iga Swiatek’s bid to complete a career Grand Slam — at least for this year.
Rybakina, who was born in Russia but represents Kazakhstan, said she’d focus on the lessons she’d taken from previous trips to the deciding end of the majors.
“Now I’m more calm. In the beginning, when it’s the first final and you go so far in the tournament, of course you are more emotional,” she said. “Now I feel like I’m just doing my job, trying to improve each day. So it’s kind of another day, another match.”
