KARACHI: While committing to hold four matches of the 2018 Pakistan Super League (PSL) in Karachi, PCB chairman Najam Sethi on Wednesday said that everything would hinge on security arrangements in the city as well as renovation of the National Stadium.

In his first interact with the Karachi-based media since succeeding Shaharyar M. Khan as the board chairman, Sethi expressed a great desire to ensure international cricket return also to the country’s largest city.

During his short visit to Karachi on Wednesday after attending the International Cricket Council (ICC) board meeting in Auckland, Sethi met Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, who has pledged wholehearted support for PCB’s efforts to stage four PSL fixtures here next year.

“I had fruitful discussions with the chief minister regarding our plans to stage the [PSL] matches in Karachi. However, everything would depend on the security arrangements and the much-needed renovation of the National Stadium,” Sethi said while addressing a news conference at the same venue.

“The chief minister is very keen on Karachi hosting PSL matches and the Sindh government has promised to cooperate with law-enforcing agencies to ensure foolproof security arrangements are in place during that time.”

Renovation of National Stadium to be carried out in two phases

The PCB said a security team from the ICC is due shortly in Karachi and it would be briefed about the security plans for the proposed matches.

“The arrangements on security front will be discussed with the ICC team, who would also receive detailed briefings during the visit. As a test case, the security plan which was so successful in Lahore for the recent series against World XI has been forwarded to the Sindh government,” the PCB chief revealed.

“When we first thought of holding PSL matches in Pakistan [this year], our wish was to start hosting them in Karachi but due to unavoidable circumstances, we had to change our plans.

“As we all saw the PSL final in Lahore [last March] went smoothly as were the three T20 matches against the World XI. The PCB wants to bring back international cricket not just to Lahore and Karachi but also to the rest of the country where facilities are available for topflight matches.

“But having said this, there are other related issues that need to be addressed properly because these are as important as other aspects before we can hope to see Pakistan hosting top sides,” he continued.

“Foremost are the concerns of the visiting players and their cricket boards since they are the ones who matter most. We have to allay their fears on touring Pakistan but I must say the [security] situation is gradually becoming better by the day.”

Meanwhile, the PCB chairman lamented the dilapidated condition of the National Stadium — one of the premier centres of the cricketing world — and stressed the need to start its renovation on priority basis.

“We had to cancel the company’s tender which was assigned to renovate the National Stadium but we found some major discrepancies and other loopholes in the figures it quoted to the board,” Sethi divulged.

“We were forced to cancel the tender because this is not a small project. Approximately this place [National Stadium] needs Rs1.5 billion and that itself is a huge amount.

“Moreover, we have also decided that its renovation process would be carried out in two phases. One is a short-term and other long-term.

The short-term plan is to get the stadium in a suitable condition in the quickest possible time to stage the PSL matches. The long-term programme is something that would need at least 18 months to put the entire house in order,” Sethi concluded.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2017