Franchise owners oppose new PSL teams, moving to UAE

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchises opposed the idea of adding two teams for season nine during a recent Governing Council meeting.

The owners also rejected the idea of taking the next season matches to the UAE due to extra security arrangement expenditure. The meeting was chaired by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Management Committee chairman Najam Sethi.

“Enforced Security expenses by the provincial governments have made it increasingly difficult for the PCB to organise matches in Pakistan and at the same time from the spectators' perspective, organising matches in UAE would fetch extra revenues. In UAE some leading mega stars would also have no hesitation representing different PSL franchises. The PCB wants franchises' opinion in this respect,” Najam Sethi told PSL Council members.

However, the franchise owners not only opposed such an idea they also rejected PCB plans to add two teams to the next season making the PSL nine an eight-team event.

The council members were of the opinion that it would be difficult for new teams to hire players of caliber, local as well as international. They said that such a step would only prove counterproductive. There is no need to include two more teams for the next season due to multiple reasons, they maintained, adding that for the time being the existing PSL format has been serving the cause well.

The council meeting that lasted for many hours. It also discussed the women league, with Sethi calling on the PSL owners to adopt one franchise each. The council members were also told that PSL Season 8 was a great success. “Details will be shared later,” Sethi said. A bid committee for inviting offers for the next PSL Period was also formed during the meeting.