KARACHI: Nobody likes competition and franchise owners of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) are no exception.
Having invested millions of dollars in the Twenty20 league, the various franchise owners of the PSL watched in dismay as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) allowed the country’s top stars to feature in the so-called T10 League which got underway in Sharjah on Thursday.
The 10-over contest would have been a non event had the PCB not released its centrally-contracted players to feature in it. Most of the other cricket boards including the Indian cricket board (BCCI) snubbed the privately-owned league but for some strange reason the PCB bosses embraced it. In fact, PCB chairman Najam Sethi left no stone unturned in defending his decision to back the league which many PSL franchise owners see as a direct threat to the T20 league.
There have been reports that many of the owners of teams like Peshawar Zalmi, the reigning PSL champions, have questioned the wisdom behind PCB’s support for the T10 league.According to Cricinfo, the franchises fear the league could emerge as a potential threat to the value of the PSL itself. A central point in their concern also revolves around the owner of the Karachi Kings franchise, who is president of the T10 League and whose broadcast company is part of the management, while Quetta Gladiators owner Nadeem Omar was not allowed permission by the PCB to launch his own league in association with the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB).
Zalmi owner Javed Afridi was most trenchant in his criticism, who as champions have the most to lose if the PSL is adversely affected. “It’s the PCB’s responsibility to improve the PSL and protect the stake of Pakistan cricket,” Afridi told Cricinfo.
“Franchises are not the rights holders of the league but we are the important entity running the show and signed to do so for ten years. We worked so hard to build this brand collectively. If the PCB will not protect our interest, then who will?
“How can the PCB undermine its own league and kill the hype of its own tournament by allowing top contracted players to play in another league taking place at the same venue just a month earlier? It might work well for some individuals but it does not help Pakistan cricket at all. There is a value of our players and you cannot sell out our players in bulk. There is a big possibility it will come back to bite us.”
Sethi had broached the subject first in a routine meeting with PSL stakeholders last month. He reportedly asked each team if they had any concerns, only to found out that a majority of the teams did. A basic presentation by Kings was rebutted by Islamabad United owner Ali Naqvi, while Lahore Qalandars questioned the support given to a league mainly backed by non-Pakistani investors.
During another meeting, there was a suggestion that a vote be carried out to determine a future course of action, only for the idea to be dropped after the majority of franchises expressed reservations in allowing players to participate in the T10 League. Sethi, however, had the authority to take the final decision as PCB chairman, and allowed players to participate. He assured teams that they would continue to monitor the T10 League and promised the PCB would withdraw its support should the PSL be threatened.
A PCB spokesman said the PCB had been assured there was “no conflict of interest with the PSL”. He also said the date of the T10 tournament had been changed from February to December after the PCB said the former was not acceptable to them. “The organisers wanted the PCB to issue NOCs to Pakistan players free of cost, like it’s done for other boards. But since no reciprocity was involved in their case, the PCB demanded a hefty fee in exchange and obtained $400,000.”
Quetta’s owner, meanwhile, had been seeking permission from the PCB to buy a team in the Emirates League in the UAE but had not received permission. During the meeting, the owner of Gladiators didn’t object to supporting the T10 League, but underlined the PCB’s “double standard” in not allowing one owner to buy a team, and discouraging another for associating with other leagues in the UAE.
Not least of the impacts of the league will be that the final round of Pakistan’s premier first-class tournament, the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, will be played without a number of big names who will be playing in the UAE this weekend. Pakistan players in the T10 League include Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Amir, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal and Hasan Ali. The final QeA round begins on December 15 with eight teams competing for a place in the final. —with inputs from agencies
