Military conflict forces shake-up in Pakistan’s cricket itinerary

A Pakistan Super League PSL match was rescheduled foreign players participating in the event weighed their options while the PCB went into a huddle on whether to continue with it at all as the countrys cricket schedule went haywire following Indias military strikes across cities hereThe PSL a T20 league which follows the IPL format features six franchises and is scheduled to wind up in Lahore on May 18It was currently in its Rawalpindi leg but tonights match between Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi has been rescheduled for an unspecified later date by the Pakistan Cricket Board PCBThe Pakistan Cricket Board in consultation with all the stakeholders has decided to reschedule tonights HBL PSL X match between Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings The PCB will announce the revised date in due course the cricket board said in a media statementThe Indian drone and missile strikes which have targetted among others Lahore and Rawalpindi so far are in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killedTonights match aside the leagues future this season looks bleak at present with foreign players edgy about the security situation due to the military escalation between the two neighboursA report in The Telegraph said English players who have signed up for the league are split on whether to remain in Pakistan and play cricketThe England and Wales Cricket Board and Professional Cricketers Association held an emergency call on Wednesday morning to discuss the situation At this stage players are not being advised to come home it addedWhile most players are currently intending to remain in Pakistan Telegraph Sport understands several are exploring their options and could return homeSeven English players James Vince Tom Curran Sam Billings Chris Jordan David Willey Luke Wood and Tom KohlerCadmore are playing in this years PSLEngland coaches Ravi Bopara and Alexandra Hartley are also involved in the ongoing leagueOther highprofile stars competing in the PSL are David Warner Karachi Kings Jason Holder Islamabad United and Rassie van der Dussen Islamabad United among othersPSL CEO Salman Naseer met the overseas players in Rawalpindi and assured them that there was no cause to worry as the PCB is closely monitoring the situationNaturally the current scenario may have come under discussionThe players have been given a heavy security blanket by the Pakistan Army PCB spokesperson Amir Mir saidThere have been surgical strikes on both sides of the border but we dont expect that to affect the PSL But if God forbid things do escalate we will sit together to decide our next step he addedAfter Wednesdays missile strikes India had insisted that Operation Sindoor was focused measured and nonescalatory and was only meant to destroy terrorists and their infrastructureHowever the Pakistani military responded by attempting to target Awantipura Srinagar Jammu Pathankot Amritsar Kapurthala Jalandhar Ludhiana Adampur Bhatinda Chandigarh Nal Phalodi Uttarlai and Bhuj according to Indian officialsThese attempts were neutralised by the Integrated Counter Unmanned Aircraft System Grid and Air Defence systems and in response India destroyed a Pakistani air defence system in Lahore according to its defence ministryWith PTI inputsatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params