Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and Shahid Afridi moved to safety after bomb blast in Quetta during PSL exhibition match

Babar Azam (Source: Twitter)

Pakistan Cricket Board had organized an Exhibition match ahead of the Pakistan Super League in Quetta. Quetta Gladiators locked horns with Peshawar Zalmi and eventually clinched the nail-biting game by three runs. Although, doubts over the match also loomed for a while when a terror attack happened in the city. Due to the bomb scare Pakistan captain Babar Azam, and former allrounder, Shahid Afridi was moved to safety by the security officials.

The PSL 2023 exhibition game was taking place a few miles away from the site of the explosion. Five people got injured in a bomb blast that happened near the Quetta Police line. It was around eight kilometres away from the ground where senior Pakistan players including Sarfaraz Ahmed, Skipper Babar Azam, and Former allrounder Shahid Afridi were playing.

Speaking to the media a senior police official said, “As soon as the explosion happened, as a precautionary measure, the match was stopped and players have taken to the dressing room for a while. Later, after the green signal, the match resumed.”

In a statement released on Sunday, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an outlawed organization, claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack. The Quetta stadium was fully packed for the game despite the explosion. The exhibition match was organized by PCB to popularize the game in Balochistan, the largest province of Pakistan.

Quetta to host PSL matches for the first time

The Pakistan Cricket Board in a bold move decided to include Quetta's Bugti Stadium among the venues for the eighth edition of the Pakistan Super League. The league's eighth season will now be played at five different locations: Lahore, Karachi, Multan, Rawalpindi, and Quetta.

Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, will host a high-profile cricket match for the first time since 1996 when it hosted its lone ODI between Pakistan and Zimbabwe. However, PSL season eight will start on February 13 when defending champions Lahore Qalandars will take on Multan Sultans who are runners-up of the previous season.