COURTESY BY: https://www.cricingif.com/
We hope PCB can start discussing resumption scenarios soon and expect that COVID-19 cases will begin to plummet as it happened in China.
The much-awaited Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 season came to an abrupt halt after the global health crisis shook the world and culminated in the postponement of all major sporting events.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) tried to wrap up the season as quickly as possible by replacing playoffs with semifinals but even that move didn’t help as the outbreak got severe with each passing day.
Before the England tour
Pakistan is set to tour Netherlands for three ODIs, Ireland for two T20Is and then tour England for the Test series. These aforementioned series will run from July till the end of August later this year.
There will be a window if the Indian Premier League (IPL) goes as planned on April 15 – which seems unlikely – but even a delayed start could leave some time for the PCB to complete the unfinished business.
After the T20 World Cup in Australia:
The marquee event is six months away and there could be some time to complete the remaining season after the completion of the mega tournament.
However, the PSL would become a distant memory and might just lose its relevance since PSL 2021 would be around the corner and the players draft is usually held in November.
That said, taking the current season towards a logical conclusion is imperative which leaves PCB in a real quandary.
The owner of Karachi Kings, Salman Iqbal, reckons it might be feasible to get the league up and running again after the WorldCup. His side was set to lock horns with Lahore Qalandars in the second semifinal but that match never transpired.
“We are planning to do a seven-day event for the semi-finals and the final. We think there is a window of seven to eight days after the World Cup in Australia that might be possible,” Salman was quoted as saying by the National
Ahead of PSL 2021
One can’t say for sure the duration and far-reaching impacts of this horrific outbreak. The Olympics have been postponed for a year and so the post-pandemic era remains unchartered territory.
The pending bilateral tours and the plethora of T20 leagues might just not allow PCB to squeeze in the last few knockout games this year and perhaps a few weeks before the HBL PSL VI could be the only available window to host the remaining knockout fixtures.
