PSL, IPL owners buy franchises of South African T20 league

LONDON: Teams from two most lucrative Twenty20 leagues -- Pakistan Super League and Indian Premier League -- may not be able to play directly with each other, but they have found a way to compete with each other in a newly introduced T20 league by South Africa.

Owners of PSL team Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi along with owners of Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils have bought different franchises in T20 Global League South Africa, which was launched in London on Monday.

Fawad Rana of Lahore Qalandars has bought Durban team while Javed Afridi of Peshawar Zalmi has acquired rights of Benoni's team.

Shahrukh Khan, the owner of Kolkata Knight Riders, will be running Cape Town franchise while the owners of Delhi Daredevils will own the team of Johannesburg. 

"This will provide a virtual competition between PSL and IPL teams in South Africa's league," said Sameen Rana of PSL team Lahore Qalandars. 

Sameen believes that all respective franchise owners will carry loyalties of fans to their brand and it will add colour to the tournament. 

Fawad Rana said that he believed this league would help in promoting Pakistan cricket culture.  "It will help us taking talent from Pakistan to a global arena and make Qalandars a global brand," Fawad told this correspondent.

Eight teams from different South African city-based franchises will participate in this competition.