To decide on the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore as the venue for the Pakistan Super League 2017 final by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was nothing but a message to the various cricket nations across the world that Lahore still has the capability to host high-intensity matches, with the best safety and security.
A major blow to those hopes was dealt after Monday night’s Lahore bomb blast, that left at least a reported 15 people, which included top police officers, dead and several injured.
The bomb blast, which reportedly has been carried out by a suicide bomber from the Islamist terrorist group ‘Jamaat-ur-Ahrar’, took place outside the Punjab Assembly in Lahore.
The shocking terror attack has sent shockwaves across the domestic and international cricketers participating in the ongoing PSL 2017. There is no reason for worry at the moment, as the league matches are going on as per the schedule in Dubai and Sharjah.
However, the Pakistan Super League 2017 final is scheduled for the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on March 5; causing major trouble for the cricketers to rethink about their participation in the match.
According to Pakistan’s Geo News, the foreign players who are expected to feature in the PSL 2017 final, have declined their participation in the match! Pakistan Super League Chairman Najam Sethi said: “The one option we have now is that if the people of Pakistan want, we can hold the PSL final in Lahore without the foreign players and officials.”
“We have as yet not decided what to do, but in the next few days, I will have another talk with the foreign players and see what happens,” Sethi added.