Islamabad: The indigenous cricket super league of the country suffered a massive blow on Thursday when one of its biggest sponsors and owner of its relatively biggest franchise Peshawar Zalmi, Javed Afridi decided to boycott the player draft ceremony for the next season of Pakistan Super League (PSL).

Afridi reportedly boycotted the event over controversial remarks by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja about Peshawar and its ability to host international level matches.

“We can’t bring Western teams to Peshawar right now,” the PCB chief had told Sky Sports in a recent interview.

The 35,000 seater Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar, which was built nearly 30 years ago, has been under renovations for the past four years as it hopes to meet requirements for hosting international matches – an important condition to fulfill for hosting PSL matches.

Ramiz Raja went on to express the hope that the city would be able to host PSL matches soon once it meets the technical requirements. But at that point, he revealed, that cricket boards of western countries are reluctant to allow their players to travel to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – located too close to Afghanistan and considered vulnerable to cross-border attacks from terrorists. However, Javed Afridi was left less than happy with the PCB chief’s statement. The boycott of the ceremony, was thus his silent protest. The Peshawar Zalmi owner usually takes special interest in draft ceremonies but this year Team Director Muhammad Akram and Captain Babar Azam will take the lead in decision-making for drafting the players. This year, like last year, PSL matches will be hosted by four cities including Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 16 2022

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