PSL6: Foreign players availability in jeopardy amid busy cricket calendar

The potential unavailability of foreign players for the remaining matches of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) edition six is becoming a serious point of concern for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the franchises as well.

Due to an extremely busy international cricket calendar, most of the foreign stars are expected to miss out on the final 20 matches of the tournament.

The PCB has released the schedule of the remaining matches after consulting the franchises last week. The league will resume from June 1 following a seven-day mandatory quarantine period for all participants.

The quarantine period will start from May 22 as the PCB has booked an entire hotel for all the players, support staff, broadcasters and every single person connected to the tournament.

England will play a two-match Test series against the Kiwis starting on June 2 whereas Ireland will also host the Netherlands for a series starting on the same date.

The domestic T20 competition of England Vitality Blast T20 is scheduled to begin on June 9 and will conclude on September 9. Therefore, the participation of English players in the PSL-6 becomes highly unlikely. Also, foreign players who have been picked by various English counties can choose between the PSL and Vitality Blast T20.

The Kiwis will take on India in the final of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) from June 18 to 22. Sri Lanka is expected to tour England in June for a series of three T20Is. The series starts after the PSL-6 ends but, the Islanders are expected to leave early in order to stick to the quarantine rules in the UK.

The month of June will also see Bangladesh touring Zimbabwe and the Aussies are expected to play against West Indies in the same time frame. Meanwhile, the IPL final will take place on the 30th of May.

Sources have also reported that foreign players taking part in the IPL might make themselves unavailable for PSL-6 due to continuous cricket and national duty.

There are unconfirmed reports of players concerned with the rising cases of Covid-19 in Pakistan and after the infamous failure of the bio-secure bubble during PSL-6, the foreign players are now extremely cautious about touring the country for the 2nd time.

However, the PCB and franchises have assured the players that they won't encounter any more problems this time around because the board has outsourced the bio-secure bubble and hired the services of a famous British company Restrata. The board is also looking to arrange a players' draft next month in order to give franchises the chance to choose the available players in case any of their players miss out on the tournament.

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