LAHORE: All owners of the six franchises of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) have agreed with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s plans to hold the fifth edition of the competition in 2020 in the country.

But the biggest hurdle remains the availability of foreign players,who have to be convinced to stay in Pakistan for the entire duration of the league.

PCB chairman Ehsan Mani held an informal meeting with the owners at a local hotel here on Monday and discussed the pros and cons of holding all matches in Pakistan.

The owners, it is learnt, have expressed reservations as to how to convince the foreigner cricketers and make them stay in Pakistan. However, it was agreed that both the PCB and the owners would move jointly to convince maximum numbers of overseas cricketers to come and play in the league.

It may be mentioned that in the last edition PCB successfully staged eight matches in Karachi in which a good number of foreign cricketers and the staff of the broadcaster stayed in the city. That experience would help a lot in convincing the foreigner players to make themselves available for the fifth edition.

Meanwhile, another massive task for the PCB to hold the PSL matches in Pakistan is the challenge of upgrading the stadia in Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Multan.

At present only Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore and National Stadium in Karachi are in position to host the matches under international atmosphere.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2019