LAHORE: A number of ump­ires and match referees, who rendered their services in last year’s Kashmir Premier League haven’t been paid their match fees till date, Dawn has learnt.

All of the officials in question are affiliated with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which permits the holding of the regional T20 league, of which the second edition was held in June 2022.

Pakistan’s top umpires including Aleem Dar and Ahsan Raza performed duties during the tournament and with the third edition scheduled to be held later this year, both the officials including many others still await their dues from last year.

One of the key umpires, who have been affected by the situation, claimed his lower-grade peers had received their match fees. The umpire, on the condition of anonymity, said the estimated dues were around Rs3 million.

“We are still in negotiations with the organisers but they keep asking us to wait ‘for some more time’,” he told Dawn.

The umpire demanded that the PCB should take up the matter with the KPL organisers before giving them the green signal for the third edition.

A KPL spokesman told Dawn that the payments have been delayed due to the league having suffered “huge losses” with several matches of the second edition having been washed out due to rain. The spokesman, however, claimed that the dues will be cleared “soon”.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2023