Published 13:26 IST, March 5th 2021
Shahid Afridi belittles importance of foreign players in PSL 2021, fans explode on Twitter
The decision to postpone the sixth edition of the Pakistan Super League hasn't gone down well with former Pakistan all-rounder and captain Shahid Afridi.
Advertisement
The PSL 2021 that commenced on February 20, was postponed indefinitely with immediate effect on Thursday after three more players had tested positive for COVID-19, thus bringing the tally of COVID-19 positive cases in the PSL's bio-bubble to seven, out of which six were players. The first case was reported by the PCB on March 1 when Australian leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed tested positive for the virus before Match 12 of the season. At the time of postponement, only 14 games were completed in the PSL 2021.
Fans disagree with Shahid Afridi's latest tweet about PSL 2021
The decision to postpone PSL 2021 hasn't gone down well with former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi. The veteran cricketer on Thursday took to Twitter and expressed his disagreement at PCB's decision to postpone PSL. According to Afridi, despite the COVID-19 situation in Pakistan, the PSL 2021 could have been completed with just local players, thus belittling the presence of foreign players in the league.
Despite a challenging situation, I feel the PSL could have been completed even with only local/young players involved. PSL is all about nurturing new talent. The tournament was very entertaining and provided quality cricket to fans around the world. 1/2
— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) March 4, 2021
As expected, Shahid Afridi's tweet garnered a lot of responses. Several reactions poured in as fans disagreed with Afridi and said that without foreign players, the tournament wouldn't be the same. Here's how fans reacted to the tweet.
no shahid bhai.. disagree with you, league ka asal maza foreign players ki waja se hota ha
— sidra ✧ (@sweetsparrowsid) March 4, 2021
You mean young players like shahid afridi, Hafeez, M. Irfan, kamran akmal...common...if it would hv been the case so whats difference in playing domestic cricket & this league if thinking about playing without foreign players...u always come with somthing bakwaas...
— Cricket Blogs ✍ (@BlogsCricket) March 5, 2021
I don't agree with you.i guess in the present situation it was quite good decision to postponed the tournament! Although it was PCB's fault to not look after them. That's very disappointing!
— Noorulain (@TheNoorulain) March 4, 2021
If you are so worried to nurture new talent, you should not have been part of PSL. Kindly let officials do there job.
— Anas Hashmi (@anasjhashmi) March 4, 2021
I personally love to watch Foreign players to play for Pakistan, without them for me the Psl won't be the same.
— Noorulain (@TheNoorulain) March 4, 2021
PSL postponed: Remainder of PSL 2021 likely to clash with IPL 2021 in May
According to a recent report by ESPNcricinfo, there is a strong possibility that the remainder of the PSL 2021 will be played in May this year which means that Pakistan's premier T20 tournament will clash with the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021). The report further stated that due to the packed international calendar and T20 World Cup in October and November, May is the only available window when PSL 2021 can be conducted, failing which the tournament is in danger of being scrapped.
Speaking about the PSL postponed news in a virtual press conference, PCB CEO Wasim Khan said that they will be looking at other windows and are hoping to play the event at a later time. Khan further said that currently they are carefully and slowly exiting players from the environment to get them out safely and make sure they can start to travel to wherever they need to travel in terms of moving forward. However, he refused to play the blame game and promised an investigation into the debacle.
SOURCE: SHAHID AFRIDI INSTAGRAM
13:26 IST, March 5th 2021