PCB to hold T20 league in UAE

Pakistan cricket authorities said they would include the national team’s shambolic whitewash against Bangladesh this year as part of a review to improve its performance.

By (Agencies)

Published: Sun 14 Jun 2015, 11:49 AM

Last updated: Wed 8 Jul 2015, 2:47 PM

Pakistani batsman Sarfraz Ahmed plays a shot during the second ODI against New Zealand at the Sharjah cricket stadium. — AFP file Islamabad — The Pakistan Cricket Board will organise its first ever professional Twenty20 league in the UAE next year.

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan says in a statement that the UAE has been chosen to host the league in order to “attract the maximum number of foreign players.”

The PCB postponed a planned Pakistan Super League back in 2013 after complaints from investors over tight bidding deadlines and from players over scheduling conflicts.

Pakistan hosted Zimbabwe for three ODIs and two Twenty20s last month in the first visit by a test-playing nation since gunmen attacked a Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in 2009.

Meanwhile, Pakistan cricket authorities on Saturday said they would include the national team’s shambolic whitewash against Bangladesh this year as part of a review to improve its performance.

Pakistan were humiliated during their neighbour’s April-May tour this year, which saw them slump to their lowest ever ranking in the ICC one-day international table of ninth after losing the one-day series in a 3-0 rout.

The defeat — accompanied by another in a single Twenty20 international — put Pakistan’s participation in 2017 Champions Trophy in England in doubt as only the top eight teams will compete.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had already put together a committee to review the national team’s below-par performance in the 2015 World Cup, where they crashed out in the quarter-finals.

During a meeting on Friday, the PCB unanimously decided to include the Bangladesh tour in the committee’s scope as it seeks to improve the team’s performance.

“Some of the areas highlighted and agreed by the committee which require strengthening were strategic thinking, fielding and fitness, pick and stick policy and positive team culture,” the PCB said in a statement Saturday.

The PCB committee will review the performance of the players and support staff after every tour to improve accountability at every stage, the release added.

Pakistan has a history of conducting reviews of teams’ performances in the past which resulted in sackings of captains and coaches.