Former chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan on Thursday, in a letter written to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said privatisation of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) would be suicidal for cricket in Pakistan.
He also said that the privatisation of PSL will benefit few individuals.
“Board of governors of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in a meeting on November 08, 2016 had presented a resolution demanding formalising PSL as an independent private limited company and privatising the PSL will soon demolish the infrastructure of cricket in Pakistan. It will badly affect both our national and international cricket,” read the letter.
The former head of the sports committee wrote in the letter that domestic cricket was already facing a shortage of funds due to lack of international cricket on home grounds and detaching the PSL brand from PCB will increase the dearth of funds as this is a major source of income.
“Cricket leagues like PSL are held to bring cash to their cricket board, but after this step PCB will remain deprived and the political influential individuals will fill their pockets,” the latter added.
Iqbal asked the premier to intervene in this matter and stop privatisation of the only cricket league of Pakistan.
What is the PSL?
The PSL is Pakistan’s first franchise-based league, featuring five teams, and has provided emerging as well as established cricketers with a lucrative opportunity to display their Twenty20 talent during the extravaganza which continues till February 23.
The long-awaited first edition of the Pakistan Super League followed two previous attempts that fell through over a lack of sponsorship and the suspension of international cricket at home in the wake of a militant attack on the Sri Lankan team almost seven years ago.
The teams were sold to private consortiums for a sum of $93 million across 10 years, with $200,000 salaries for top-tier players and relatively handsome paydays for middle-tier and emerging talent.
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