LAHORE, Nov 23: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is likely to again lock horns with the Punjab government as it has decided to hold the National T20 Cup in Lahore instead of staging it in Karachi as was tentatively planned earlier.

No change is made in the dates of the tournament which will be held from Dec 2-10.

The PCB will make the formal announcement in this regard on Monday after getting a security clearance from the Punjab government. A letter to the Punjab government has already been written.

The clearance is necessary because the T20 tournament had been attracting a large number of spectators to the stadium over the years and on several occasions it has created a law and order situation.

But the current, conflict-like relations between the Punjab government and the PCB may create some problems in holding the event in Lahore. In case Punjab government refuses the PCB the permission to hold the event in Lahore, hundreds of thousands of cricket fans here will be deprived of the exciting contest which has come their way after a very long time.

A PCB official on the condition of anonymity said that as the Gaddafi Stadium is under control of the PCB, the tournament would go smoothly.

He said the two matches of the ongoing President’s Trophy were shifted from Faisalabad and Sialkot to Islamabad and Mirpurkhas respectively because the venues in Punjab (Faisalabad and Sialkot) were not under PCB control.

This week district governments of Gujranwala and Sialkot did not allow the PCB to hold its under-19 region match between Sialkot and Peshawar without giving any reason for the same.—Sports Reporter