Peshawar Zalmi overseas players except Eoin Morgan agree to play PSL final in Lahore

Javed Afridi, the owner of Peshawar Zalmi, has reportedly confirmed that the overseas players of his franchise have agreed to play the PSL final in Lahore. The only player to have not confirmed the same in English skipper Eoin Morgan. The entire edition of the PSL was played in the UAE last year.

This year, the PSL committee and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have decided to let the finals of the coveted tournament be played on Pakistan soil. Lahore has been finalised as the venue for the same. The move has come in as an attempt to bring back the rich form of cricket back to the Pakistani soil. No major team except Zimbabwe has toured Pakistan ever since the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus.

The board had planned to invite the West Indies national team for a short T20 series in March. However, that plan got cancelled after the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) pulled out at the last moment after concerns raised by FICA. The only option left for the PCB to bring back cricket to Pakistan was in the form of PSL.

PCB chairman announced that a set of replacement players would be kept ready in case the overseas players refuse to travel to Pakistan for the finals. He even went on to say that even if no overseas players turn up for the event, the finals will be played by only domestic players.

Also read- Najam Sethi working hard to convince franchises and players to play PSL final at Lahore

Amidst all this brouhaha, the owner of Peshawar Zalmi has given some good news to the fans. As per a tweet by a renowned Pakistani journalist, Javed Afridi mentioned that all overseas players are ready to play in Pakistan. Eoin Morgan remains an exception. The tweet read, “Javed Afridi “All PZ’s overseas players apart from Eoin Morgan have confirmed to me they will play in Lahore if we reach the final” #HBLPSL.”

Javed Afridi "All PZ's overseas players apart from Eoin Morgan have confirmed to me they will play in Lahore if we reach the final" #HBLPSL

— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) February 6, 2017

Interestingly, Eoin Morgan had earlier pulled out of the Bangladesh tour citing security reasons. This certainly does not come as a surprise even if Morgan decides to pull out of the tournament finals. However, when seen at length, Morgan is most likely to be leading the England team in the West Indies at the same time as the PSL finals.