The fifth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is already underway. It is for the first time in the history of the tournament that the entire edition is being hosted in Pakistan. The league began on Thursday with defending champions Quetta Gladiators taking on Islamabad United in the season opener.
However, in the first two days of its inception, PSL 5 has witnessed its first controversy during the match between Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi at the National Stadium in Karachi. The incident occurred during the second half of the Peshawar Zalmi’s chase when a player was spotted operating a mobile phone on live Television.
Mobile phones are banned as per the ICC’s rules
As per the ICC norms, the use of mobile phones is strictly banned in the dressing room or the dugout. At times, players and the members from the team management often use the walkie-talkie to communicate between the dressing room and the dugout. However, in Friday’s day encounter, a player in the Karachi Kings dugout was caught on live TV using a mobile phone.
Here’s the tweet highlighting the incident:
Since when are mobile phones and mobile phone conversations allowed in a team dugout during a live T20 (or any) match? pic.twitter.com/O93wtx2SwE
— Peter Della Penna (@PeterDellaPenna) February 21, 2020
While the player’s name has still not been revealed, it is likely that the team management and the player might have to face trouble in the times to come. The match referee can take strict action and can even sanction the player for violating the ICC rules during the match proceedings. However, the franchise and the team management will hope that the controversy doesn’t shape further to affect their team environment in the season ahead.
Karachi Kings secure their maiden win in PSL 5
Talking of the game, it was a close contest between Kings and Zalmis. Karachi Kings, led by Babar Azam and skipper Imad Wasim in the batting department posted a huge total of 201 runs. However, Peshawar did come close to surpassing the target but failed to cross the finishing line during the death overs. Peshawar had an off-day with the ball after most of their bowlers were taken to the cleaners during the first innings.
