Sixth team’s rights sold to Tareen-led Multan consortium

ISLAMABAD: The consortium of Alamgir Khan Tareen and Ali Tareen won the franchise rights of the Sixth team of HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) with a whopping amount of Rs880 million per annum for the next seven years.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the name of winners of the Sixth team but didn’t mention the amount on which the team’s rights were bought.

‘The News’ has learnt from well-placed sources that the rights were bought at record prize by the consortium.

The PCB only mentioned the reserve prize of $5.21 million per annum and at the same time confirmed that winning prize was more than the reserve prize.

“The Sixth team’s rights have been bought at a huge sum of Rs880 million per annum for the next seven years,” a source within the board told ‘The News’.

Commenting on the successful sale of the franchise rights, PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani said this was a key step in the growth of the PSL brand.

“I would like to welcome the Multan Consortium of Alamgir Tareen and Ali Tareen to our HBL PSL family,” said Mani, adding that: “The consortium includes passionate cricket patrons who are keen to work with the PCB to make PSL a bigger brand. It is also heartening to note that they plan to provide a platform for young cricketing talent.”

A delighted Ali Tareen said: “Our goal was to retain the Sixth PSL franchise in South Punjab and we have succeeded in that. We want to focus on developing cricket in the region and bringing more players from the region to the top level. The PSL is not only a platform for entertainment but also for cricket development.”

The team will be recognised with the city of Multan and if allowed legally, Multan Sultans could well be retained as its name. “In other case, any renowned name could be added with Multan name. We would look into all this,” Ali Tareen added.

Pakistan Super League 2019 will kick off in Dubai on February 14, while Multan Consortium will play their opening match on February 15 against Karachi Kings. Squad: Shoaib Malik (captain), Ali Shafiq, Dan Christian, Joe Denly, Laurie Evans, Irfan Khan, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Junaid, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Illyas, Tom Moores,, Nauman Ali, Nicholas Pooran, Shahid Afridi, Shakeel Ansar, Shan Masood, Steve Smith, Umar Siddiq and Qais Ahmed.

Matches’ schedule: Friday, February 15: v Karachi Kings, Dubai

Saturday, February 16: v Islamabad United, Dubai

Wednesday, February 20: v Quetta Gladiators, Sharjah

Friday, February 22: v Lahore Qalandars, Sharjah

Sunday, February 24: v Peshawar Zalmi, Sharjah

Tuesday, February 26: v Islamabad United, Dubai

Thursday, February 28: v Peshawar Zalmi, Dubai

Friday, March 1: v Quetta Gladiators, Dubai

Monday, March 4: v Karachi Kings, Abu Dhabi

Sunday, March 10: v Lahore Qalandars, Lahore.