Peshawar Zalmi’s owner Javed Afridi has expressed hope that his team’s Pakistan Super League Season 9 matches will take place at Arbab Niaz Stadium.
The 37-year-old showed off the latest renovations going on at the historic stadium on his social media account.
“Peshawar Stadium today’s visuals. Inshallah PSL 9 Zalmi will play their home games there,” Afridi wrote in the accompanying caption.
Despite being one of the original five franchises, Zalmi has not played a single game at their home stadium much to their owner’s chagrin.
Javed Afridi is likely to get his wish as Arbab Niaz Stadium and Quetta’s Bugti Stadium will likely be in the running for hosting next year’s matches.
Zalmi and Gladiators even played a friendly match before PSL 8 at Quetta’s home ground in a preview of what to expect.
Multan Sultans, Lahore Qalandars, Islamabad United and Karachi Kings got to host “home” games this year and PCB may consider expanding the same format to all six cities despite some logistical concerns.
Javed Afridi takes great pride in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s association with cricket and has made utmost attempts at bringing cricket back to the province. He even reportedly missed the PSL 8 draft as a protest to then-PCB’s head Ramiz Raja’s comments about the safety of foreign players.
Zalmi will be hoping to do better than playing Eliminator 2 when PSL 9 kicks off next year.
