LANDI KOTAL: Fever of Pakistan Super League also gripped the entire Khyber Agency, but excessive electricity loadshedding and limited access to live television broadcast of the final match dampened the spirits of the cricket lovers.

Desperate cricket enthusiasts, majority of them Peshawar Zalmi supporters, however, arranged solar panels and power generators in their houses and hujras to watch the match live.

A large number of cricket lovers in Landi Kotal and Jamrud travelled to Peshawar to watch the live broadcast of the final match on big screens installed at a number of public places.

Young lovers of the game thronged sports outlets in both Landi Kotal and Jamrud to buy yellow and red shirts of the two teams, the Peshawar Zalmi and the Islamabad United.

Support for Peshawar Zalmi was overwhelming both as being the team of the region and also a ‘son of the soil’ Samin Gul, a strike blower of the yellow shirts, belonged to Jamrud tehsil.

Arrangements were also made for special food, especially the Shinwari Tikka-Karrahi, at various localities along with sweets and confectionaries to celebrate the occasion in a traditional manner.

In Bajaur Agency, cricket fans complained they were unable to watch matches of the third edition of the PSL on TV screens as a PTV booster in the region remained shut since along due to unknown reasons.

They told Dawn that they were deprived of watching any match of the PSL on TV screens because of the shutting down of the PTV booster.

Akhtar Khan, a 23-year-old cricket fan of Khar town, said he had bought a new LED TV and power generator to enjoy the matches, but to no avail, as the PTV booster remained out of order.

Youths blamed the operators for deliberately shutting the booster to save money allocated for purchasing fuel for running it.

Usman Khan of Salarzai tehsil claimed there was no technical fault in the booster.

The cricket lovers said they either watched the PSL matches on internet or listened to radio, and demanded of PTV management to launch an inquiry into the matter.

Meanwhile, an official said the booster had been non-functional for last several weeks after it developed a technical fault.

In Lakki Marwat, police have launched an awareness campaign to ensure that no incident of firing in the air takes place in the district on the occasion of the PSL final.

The campaign has been launched on the orders of provincial police chief, said an official on Sunday. He said DPO Arif Shebaz Khan had formed special committees to educate people, especially youths, about the harmful effects of celebratory firing.

The SHOs and other subordinate police officials have been directed to visit mosques and seek help from area elders and local bodies’ members to spread awareness in this regard, he maintained.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2018