LAHORE: The inaugural edition of the Pakistan Women T20 League will be held in September-October this year while a test run for the event will see five or six matches played alongside the eighth season of the HBL-Pakistan Super League scheduled for February-March this year, Pakistan Cricket Board’s management committee chief Najam Sethi said on Thursday.

Sethi chaired a meeting of the PSL General Council he­re on Thursday and told Dawn that’ franchises of the PSL will organise matches of women’s league during the PSL.

“Foreign players will also be invited to form teams as it will give the PCB an opportunity to go through an experience before holding full event for women in September October this year,” Sethi said.

The decision to hold the women’s league along the same lines of the PSL was the brainchild of former PCB chairman Ramiz Raja, who was ousted following the shake-up of the board that saw the management committee headed by his predecessor Sethi take over. The original idea was to hold the league alongside the PSL and although Sethi has carried forward the idea, he’s first decided to go with a test run.

Sethi informed that the schedule for the PSL will be announced in a week’s time as tentative dates had to be discussed with the Punjab government to obtain security clearance. However, he added that no match of the PSL will be held in Quetta as the Bugti Stadium was undergoing renovation. “An exhibition match could be a possibility though,” he added.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2023