PCB to hold Super T20 League in UAE next year

Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced it will hold its planned Super T20 League in January, 2015 in the UAE.

Fashioned on the lines of other foreign T20 leagues being held in test-playing nations, PCB Chairman Najam Sethi said the Pakistan super league would involve foreign players which is why it would be held in the UAE. "We are also thinking on lines of having the final in Lahore if the overseas players agree," he added. The PCB had also announced and established a secretariat in late 2012 in Lahore to organise a similar T20 premier league also hiring the services of Haroon Lorgat as advisor on the event but it fizzled out due to security concerns as home boards refused to issue no objection certificates (NOCs) to its players who had signed MOUs with the PCB to take part in the league which was planned in Pakistan. No test-playing nation has toured Pakistan since March, 2009 when militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore. Despite that attack, the Sri Lankan cricket board has continued to be always supportive of Pakistan cricket. Sethi also announced that the board had managed to get approval from the Sri Lankan board for a full test series in July-August this year. "The Pakistan team will be touring Sri Lanka in July-August for a full series," Sethi added. The series comes at a time when the Pakistan team was supposed to have no international commitments since after the World T20 tournament to October this year, a source said. "This series has been finalised due to the efforts of Sethi who spoke to the Sri Lankan authorities and requested them to host the Pakistan team," he said. The source added that the series was not part of the future tours programme and had been negotiated bilaterally. Sethi also announced that Pakistan would host Australia and New Zealand in back-to-back series in the UAE from October to December this year.c