Not long after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) suspended the 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for a week in the backdrop of the tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) too announced the postponement of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) on Friday.
Teams have begun disbanding with immediate effect and foreign players are being sent home, ESPN Cricinfo said in a report.
READ HERE | IPL 2025 discontinued as tensions escalate on India-Pakistan border
Thank you, @RailMinIndia, for arranging a special Vande Bharat train on such short notice to ferry the players, support staff, commentators, production crew members, and operations staff to New Delhi.
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 9, 2025
We deeply appreciate your swift response. 🙌🏽@AshwiniVaishnaw | @JayShah |… pic.twitter.com/tUwzc5nGWD
PCB's postponement news came hours after revealing its plans to conduct the remainder of the PSL 2025 matches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). However, the cricket board later said that they decided to suspend the tournament instead heeding advice made by Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. "The decision to postpone has been taken pursuant to advice received from the Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif," the PCB reportedly said in a statement.
The sentiments of the families of the overseas players and the mental well-being of all cricketers involved were among the factors that forced them to take the decision, PCB added.
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According to reports, after officially declaring that the remaining games of the T20 league will be played in UAE, PCB was in the process of taking all players with visas to Dubai on Friday night. They had made arrangements for others to get UAE visas over the weekend. But then came the news of the U-turn citing "worsening of the situation".
Meanwhile, news reports earlier the day claimed that the UAE is unlikely to let PCB host the remainder of the tournament in Dubai or anywhere else in the country in the backdrop of the tensions with India. The BCCI and Emirates Cricket share a warm bond and Middle Eastern power is not willing to strain them by opening their stadiums for PSL 2025, the reports claimed. Jay Shah's presence in the most powerful office of the ICC could have also played a role in it, the reports said.
If the PCB was turned down by the UAE, officially or otherwise, it is likely that they decided to come up with such a stance to save face before the world.
Eight matches remain to be played in PSL 2025, which was originally scheduled to conclude on May 18, Sunday. It was not immediately known when and where will the tournament resume.
