The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) hopes of conducting the remainder of the 6^th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL 2021) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in June was dented by UAE imposing a travel ban for travelers from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UAE government's ban comes into effect from Wednesday (May 11) – which diminished the chances of PSL 2021 resuming in the UAE next month.

However, the PCB is in talks with the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) to seek permission from the UAE Government to stage the remaining 20 matches of the PSL 06 in Dubai and Abu Dhabi from June 1.

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A source revealed: “The PCB was expecting things to be finalized in next 24 hours due to the Eid holidays in both countries but now with this ban imposed by the UAE government till May 12, the only option available to the PCB is to hold the matches in Karachi.”

Another source said, “There is one more suggestion to have it in Sri Lanka if not in UAE, but that will require a lot of logistical and other issues and will also be dependent on clearance from the government.”

The National Command and Operations Authority, which oversees the COVID-19 situation in Pakistan, had already advised the PCB not to conduct the PSL 2021 matches in Karachi.

The Pakistan board was also against holding the matches in Karachi or anywhere in Pakistan after the T20 league was postponed in March due to a sudden surge in COVID-19 cases among players and officials.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s legendary batsman Javed Miandad said that remainder of PSL should not happen at all, and all the focus should be on saving lives in these tough times of COVID-19.

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Miandad stated, “I think this is not the right time to be playing cricket when all the focus is on saving lives from this dreaded virus. This is not the time to play cricket, it is the time to save lives. In these times of crisis, we should be more focused on saving lives rather than playing cricket.”

He concluded, “The whole world has been affected by the Coronavirus. India, where the world cup was supposed to take place, is also severely affected by the epidemic.”

(With PTI Inputs)