It’s almost sundown at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi but the temperature hasn’t really gone down. “It was feeling like 50 degrees out there,” Wasim Akram told me in a telephonic conversation from the UAE capital last week after a training session. “It’s going to be a huge challenge,” he added.Wasim, who is in Abu Dhabi as the man at the helm of defending champions Karachi Kings, was talking about the remaining part of HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) which began in Abu Dhabi last Wednesday after a series of initial hiccups.

This year’s PSL, the sixth edition of the hugely popular T20 league, was supposed to be held entirely in Pakistan but the event had to be called off earlier this year after the bio-secure bubble got burst and several Covid-19 cases were reported among the players and officials associated with it.

After a series of negotiations between the PCB and the franchises it became apparent that the best case scenario - to stage the remaining matches on home soil - wasn’t possible. The next best thing was to have the matches on some offshore venue and the ideal destination was the UAE. The UAE is one of the few nations in the region to have contained the pandemic quite successfully.

However, it was quite clear that even taking the PSL back to the UAE (it was born there) won’t be an easy task. A few wrong moves and it would have become a logistical nightmare.

They say well begun is half done.

Unfortunately, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was unable ensure a smooth beginning which resulted in a series of hiccups. There were visa delays, flight and schedule changes and other logistical issues. Some of the headache that the PSL stakeholders and participants suffered during several agonising days leading up to the league’s resumption could have been averted had the PCB been more proactive in doing the homework ahead of the league’s resumption. Unfortunately, the top Board officials either didn’t realize that dealing with Abu Dhabi authorities, who are known to be strict about protocols and SOPs, would be tough or they didn’t care.

They sent teams of relatively junior officials to negotiate with the authorities in Abu Dhabi ahead of the PSL matches. Probably they haven’t heard of the phrase: “Never send a boy to do a man’s job”.

In contrast, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) landed in the UAE with all their top guns to negotiate ahead of the remaining part of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indian delegation was led by Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI President and included most of the decision-makers in the board’s set-up. There are no guarantees that the IPL matches in the UAE later this year would be hassle-free but at least the BCCI has done its homework.

All said and done, the good thing is that the PSL has resumed and we have seen some really exciting action during the last few days.

During my chat with Wasim ahead of the Wednesday night’s game between Lahore Qalandars and Islamabad United, the former Pakistan captain stressed that the team that acclimatises best will have the best chances to win the coveted title.

“Look, nobody has played such competitive cricket in the UAE during this part of the year,” he said. “So yes the weather is going to be a big challenge. But even more than the heat, it’s the dew factor which might play the most decisive role in the outcome of the matches,” he said.

Other players and officials have expressed similar opinion.

So what’s the solution?

“Well, you can’t do much about the dew. There is too much of it especially during the night matches. You will need to find ways and means to overcome this factor. Personally I believe that because of the dew factor you can’t play two spinners, which you normally do on low and slow wickets in the UAE. So most teams will be forced to rely on four fast bowlers.”

And what about the heat?

“I don’t know much about what other teams are doing but in the Karachi camp we have taken ample measures to make sure that the players stay fully hydrated during their entire stay here. We have arranged for ice jackets. The players have been told to consume a lot of fluids, water, coconut water etc and also add electrolytes.”

Wasim stressed that all stakeholders need to work together to once again ensure that PSL is a resounding success.

“The PSL is by far one of our most important cricket events,” he said. “Everybody knew that once this year’s event was postponed it won’t be easy to complete the tournament because of the pandemic. So yes there were problems and everyone had to bear with them. It’s not easy for anybody to stay in isolation again and again but you can’t do anything about it. That’s the way the world is at the moment.

“The positive development is that the PSL has overcome all obstacles and the matches have resumed. We have seen that despite all sorts of challenges, the players are giving their best and we have seen some top quality matches. I believe that all of us should work together and make sure that the PSL ends on a highly successful note this year as well.”

Khalid Hussain is Editor Sports of The News

khalidhraj@gmail.com