PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi left open the possibility that the later stages of the tournament could be held with crowds, but that would be contingent on the “crisis” in Iran ending. “Perhaps it ends in 10 days, perhaps 15.”

The conflict in West Asia has also resulted in a global oil crisis, the impact of which has been keenly felt in Pakistan, especially with the disruptions to oil supply in the Strait of Hormuz. “The Prime Minister requested all of Pakistan to restrict their movements because of the fuel crisis,” Naqvi said. “We closed schools and instituted work from home and increased the number of Eid holidays. We don’t know how long this war will last.

“Looking at all of this and after discussions with our security agencies, we decided that the PSL would continue as per the original schedule. But we can’t ask people to restrict their movements and then have 30,000 people in stadiums every day. We decided that as long as this crisis is ongoing, we will not have crowds at matches. This was a difficult decision, but it needed to be made. The opening ceremony will also be cancelled.”

Naqvi said the PCB would compensate the franchise owners for the loss of revenue resulting from empty crowds, the large majority of which goes to the franchises. He also promised to refund all those who had already bought tickets for the tournament. He apologised to the cities who would no longer get to host matches, especially Peshawar, which was scheduled to host one match on March 28, and promised that the PSL would be open to more venues the following year. “Because there are no crowds anyway, there was no reason to go to those cities. And we have to restrict our movements so resources are not wasted.”

The PSL is set to begin on 26 March, with the final on 3 May.