PCB chairman Najam Sethi inaugurates renovated dressing rooms at Gaddafi Stadium

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi was spotted inaugurating revamped dressing rooms at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore on Saturday, February 25. The stadium is the home ground of Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) team Lahore Qalandars and the next match at the venue will be played between the hosts and Peshawar Zalmi on February 26, 2023. This will also be the first match hosted at the Gaddafi Stadium in ongoing PSL.

Earlier on Friday, Sethi met a delegation that represented the Punjab government at the stadium to solve the financial dispute. However, the meeting couldn’t produce a fruitful result as both sides refused to retract from their stance. 

The PCB and the interim Punjab government are involved in a fierce dispute over the cost of security for the PSL matches played in Lahore and Rawalpindi. On the same matter, the board had also set a deadline of February 25, 2023, to take a decision on PSL matches to be hosted by the Punjab province. In case both parties can’t reach a resolution on Saturday, PCB might move the league games of Punjab to Karachi, Sindh, from February 28.

Earlier, this month, the Punjab caretaker chief minister (CM) Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi refused the proposal to light up Lahore for PSL. It was said that PCB made the request but in communication with Geo News, the PCB chief said no such request from the board was made to the Punjab government. 

So far, the initial 12 games of PSL have taken place in Karachi and Multan, and now, it’s Rawalpindi and Lahore’s turn to host the remaining matches. From March 1, the Rawalpindi leg is also scheduled to start with the Peshawar Zalmi versus Karachi Kings match.

Of the next 20 remaining PSL games, Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium will host 11, while nine games will be hosted by Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium. The knockout games are also currently scheduled to be played in Lahore.

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