KARACHI: The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) management committee, Najam Sethi, on Saturday said that India’s announcement of their women’s league came right after Pakistan announced the same.

In an interaction with the media on Saturday, Sethi said PCB wanted to revive women’s cricket in the country and the Women’s League is part of that plan.

Amid the ongoing eighth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), the PCB will hold three women’s exhibition matches as a build-up to the Women’s League.

“As soon as we announced the women’s league, India and the IPL announced their own women’s league. This year we are going to launch a women’s league. There are some women’s matches in this PSL as well,” he said.

He also heaped massive praise on Pakistan women’s wicketkeeper-batter Muneeba Ali for “scoring a magnificent century” against Ireland in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup 2023 in South Africa.

During the conference, Sethi also admitted that continuing the (PSL) on home soil was a “challenge.”

Earlier, there had been concerns voiced over the future of the PSL 8 matches scheduled in Karachi, following the attack on the city’s police chief’s headquarters on Friday evening.

However, an emergency meeting was called by the PCB which was attended by franchise representatives. In the meeting, PCB, in consultation with security agencies and the provincial government, took franchises in confidence. As a result, they all agreed to continue with the ongoing edition of PSL as per schedule in Karachi.

Sethi also told media representatives: “Continuing PSL in Pakistan is a challenge. The Punjab government sent us a bill of Rs800m for security, while the bill was Rs400m for Karachi. However, after our request, the Chief Minister of Sindh, Murad Ali Shah, waived the bill. When I told this to the Punjab government, they also decided against charging us for security.”

“We do not take a single rupee from the government but pay taxes,” he added.

Sethi also revealed that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif had asked him to restore departmental cricket.

“Before I came, instructions were issued to restore departmental cricket. I hope that Karachi Customs will also restore the cricket team. It is not appropriate that if the chairman changes, all the work goes to waste,” he concluded.

Schedule of women’s exhibition matches

Mar 8 — Pakistan Women’s League Exhibition Match 1

Mar 10 — Pakistan Women’s League Exhibition Match 2

Mar 11 — Pakistan Women’s League Exhibition Match 3

All three matches will be played at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi.