LAHORE: The Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2017 concluded with an electrifying and colourful ceremony at Gaddafi Stadium here Sunday. The ceremony kicked off in the evening with parachutists making a dramatic entry at Gaddafi Stadium. Actors Ahmed Ali Butt and Ayesha Omer hosted the ceremony which preceded the much-anticipated final between Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi. Singer Ali Zafar opened the show with his new PSL song ‘Ab Khel Jamay Ga’ surrounded by traditional dancers. Fakhir followed his act with old favourite ‘Tere Bina Dil Na Lagay’. Peshawar Zalmi players took a round of the stadium before a performance by the band ‘Overload’. Band frontman Farhad Humayun took the opportunity to make a political statement. “We will continue playing cricket here,” he told a charged crowd. “We will continue playing our music here, and our families and kids will go to parks and enjoy themselves,” he said, before chanting ‘Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’ and taking up the drums alongside dhol walas beating their dhols. Humayun’s interlude was followed by Ali Azmat singing Junoon hits ‘Yaro Yehi Dosti Ha’ and ‘Jazba Junoon’, followed by ‘O Lal Meri’.
Unprecedented security in Lahore: Over the last fortnight the security presence in Lahore had increased significantly, after a spate of bombings rocked Pakistan’s second largest city and other parts of the country too in February. The Gaddafi Stadium, situated in the Nishtar sports complex, had been off limits to the general public over the last three days. An estimated 18,000 tickets were sold for the PSL final between Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators. There was a full house as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), by hosting PSL final in Lahore, attempted to bring high-profile cricket involving some overseas players back to Pakistan. Though the PSL had maintained from the start that this year’s final would be held in Pakistan, the bombings over the last month had caused uncertainty. At least 13 people were killed and more than 80 injured in a blast near the Punjab Assembly in Lahore on February 13, while more than 80 died after a bomb went off at a shrine in the Sindh province on February 16.
To safeguard the PSL final, over 10,000 security personnel had been deployed, including Punjab police, and Pakistan’s paramilitary force – Rangers. The Nishtar Park compound had been protected by huge metal gates, and the spectators were able to enter the Gaddafi Stadium only after three layers of security checks, some of which took place at a two-kilometre protective perimeter around the venue. The entire complex had also been set up with a new range of scanners, high definition facial-recognition CCTV systems, and police control centres. No public vehicle was allowed within a kilometre of the sports complex, and entry was on foot from Liberty roundabout and Ferozpur Road, through extensive security layers. Surrounding roads connected to the complex were closed for traffic and alternative routes had been given by the Lahore traffic police. A makeshift hospital facility had also been built within the hockey stadium adjacent to the cricket stadium in case of emergency.