*The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s Chief Executive Office (CEO) Wasim Khan has urged the franchise owners to not get involved in the blame game and ‘accept collective responsibility.*
After the postponement of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021 on Thursday following seven positive coronavirus cases, franchise owners of Lahore Qalandars and Karachi Kings blamed the PCB for not making sure that the bio-secure bubble remained intact.
Wasim, while talking to the media at the National Stadium in Karachi on Thursday, said that he can understand the emotions involved from the franchise owners.
“To make any bio-secure bubble successful, it needs partnership and sacrifice from everyone,” he said. “It is not about the blame game right now. There are a lot of emotions at the moment. Franchises have invested a lot of money and I know that there will be reactions from different sectors.
“But as I said before, to make any bio-secure bubble, everyone needs to be on the same page, that’s how we managed to conduct a successful domestic season. I understand why they [franchise owners] are saying things like these but it is not about the blame game, its about Pakistan cricket and it’s welfare. It is not the time to fight right now. It is time to accept collective responsibility.”
Wasim further said that his own proposal was to postpone the event for five days, continue testing but the franchises rejected the idea.