Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) convinced themselves that they had taken all the safety measures ahead of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021 edition. They had scheduled all the matches to be hosted in just two cities – Karachi & Lahore. Just when things are going pretty for the tournament organizers, it all just went south with COVID-19 cases popping up!
The first case in PSL 6 was identified just ahead of the 12th Match between Quetta Gladiators and Islamabad United on March 01. A huge number of tests were done on the players and staff from all the franchises and rescheduled the 12th Match to March 02 as there were no further positive cases identified. However, PCB were confronted with 6 more positive cases a day later. At this juncture, they were forced to nothing else but postpone the tournament giving utmost priority to the health of players and staff.
This is a huge loss to each of the franchises and to the brand of PSL itself. With blame games picking up between each of the teams, PCB appointed an independent fact-finding panel to get some answers for the mistakes that had put an abrupt end to the sixth season of PSL.
“Distinguished infectious disease experts Dr. Syed Faisal Mahmood and Dr. Salma Muhammad Abbas have been appointed as independent members of the two-person fact-finding panel that will review the bio-secure protocols as well as the bylaws that were put in place during the HBL Pakistan Super League 6,” stated PCB in their media release.
Reacting to the current situation, PCB Chairman, Ehsan Mani said: “The independent panel of two distinguished experts has been appointed with the sole purpose of an honest, constructive and objective review. The independent panel will speak with all the relevant stakeholders, including the event and hotel staff, medical and compliance officers, team players and management, so that we can get a better understanding of how the cases occurred. The independent panel will make such recommendations as it considers appropriate.”
According to the PCB media release, the independent panel will submit their findings to PCB Chairman Mr. Ehsan Mani by the end of this month. A total of 14 games were played in the PSL 6 before the extreme decision was made and PCB might look to resume the tournament later this year if they had some positive outcome from the findings of their independent fact-checking panel.
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