PSL franchises raise alarm against T10 league

KARACHI: The T10 League in Sharjah was always going to be a headache for Pakistan’s cricket authorities. But for a few bucks the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had been allowing the fledgling league to encroach into Pakistan Super League (PSL) territory.

Understandably, that hasn’t gone down well with several of the PSL franchises. According to reports, several franchise owners are upset with the T10 League and have embarked on a warpath with it by writing a letter to the PCB chairman Ehsan Mani to express alarm at the encroachment of the T10 league into what they consider their territory. The letter, according to reports, asks that the PCB prevent its players from participating in the league. The PSL franchises ask the board to prevent the use of names of Pakistani cities in franchises that will play the T10 League. The letter also claims the “promotional activities of these teams in the heartlands and territories of PSL teams” may damage the PSL teams’ reputation, divert their sponsors and draw away their fan base.

The letter, which comes from five of the six franchises, requests the PCB to announce publicly that the cricket board has not authorised the T10 League. In addition, they have requested the PCB to prevent the T10 League from seeking sponsorships in Pakistan.

The recurring theme throughout the letter is the signatories seeking to prevent the Emirates T10 cricket League taking on names such as Karachians, Pakhtoon and Punjabi Legends. Terming it “a mean attempt by a foreign entity to target Pakistani cricket viewership market despite the fact that the T10 Cricket League has no indigenous affiliation with Pakistan or people of Pakistan”, they warned the PCB such actions needed to be nipped in the bud before it was too late and the “menace of foreign cricket leagues” had encroached on Pakistan’s domestic structure. –with inputs from agencies