Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board on Friday announced to relocatescheduled matches at the cricket headquarters in Lahore to Rawalpindi andKarachi due to poor air quality caused by smog.
The cricket body said that the decision has been made by taking into“consideration the health and wellbeing of professional athletes and matchofficials due to the recent deterioration in the air quality caused by anearly onset of intense air pollution in Lahore, which is expected to deepennext month”.
This rescheduling impacts the three T20Is between Pakistan and Zimbabwe,and the remaining four HBL Pakistan Super League 2020 fixtures, which willnow be held in Rawalpindi and Karachi, respectively, on the dates announcedearlier.
PCB chief executive Wasim Khan said: “We have been keeping a close eye onair quality forecasts over the last two weeks. Following the suddendeterioration in air quality and now further expected air pollution inNovember, we have made a swift decision to move the matches scheduled inLahore.
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“The early onset of hazardous pollution and subsequent poor air qualitymeant that the risk to keep matches in Lahore at this stage was too great.An early decision was made to ensure logistical challenges could be dealtwith sooner rather than later. We cannot and will not compromise on thehealth and wellbeing of the players or officials.
“The decision to move matches from Lahore was not one that was takenlightly. For the sake of everyone involved and to ensure the remaining fourmatches of the HBL PSL and the three T20Is against Zimbabwe were completedwithout risk or interruption, it was important to move the matches.
