Lahore Qalandars began their Pakistan Super League title defence with a convincing 69-run win over debutants Hyderabad Kingsmen on Thursday, but the season opener was played in an empty stadium as fans stayed away due to soaring fuel costs.

The match at Gaddafi Stadium was held without spectators after authorities urged people to limit travel and work from home amid rising fuel prices linked to the ongoing Iran conflict.

Mohsin Naqvi said it would be inappropriate to allow thousands of fans to attend matches while the government is advising citizens to stay home. As part of cost-cutting measures, the Pakistan Cricket Board reduced the number of venues from six to two and barred spectators from matches in Lahore and Karachi.

Only a small number of officials and franchise representatives were present at the opening game of the 39-day tournament. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz attended briefly as a guest of the PCB.

To compensate for the lack of crowd presence, artificial crowd noise was added to the live broadcast as Lahore posted 199 for 6 after being put in to bat.

Opener Fakhar Zaman scored 53 off 39 balls and became only the second player in PSL history to reach 3,000 runs. Captain Shaheen Shah Afridi had earlier chosen to bat after winning the toss.

In reply, Hyderabad, led by Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne, were restricted to 130 for 9. Lahore’s pace attack dominated, with Haris Rauf and Ubaid Shah taking two wickets each, while Bangladesh’s Mustafizur Rahman and Afridi chipped in with one apiece.