Lorgat believes the PSL could rival the IPL and BBL in a few years time
Former International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat has announced that people should not be so quick to write off the Pakistan Super League (PSL) as it could potentially be worth in “excess of $100 million”.
Lorgat has been helping the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) plan and market the new Twenty20 tournament and believes that if everything goes smoothly, it has a chance of competing against the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL), which are the two most successful domestic Twenty20 competitions right now.
“People should not underestimate the potential of the Twenty20 league in Pakistan,” Lorgat said. “With the rising popularity of T20 cricket, every ICC member country has the right to host its own professional league. Pakistan has done hardwork and I hope with foreign players’ participation, perceptions about the country will change. I can see a lot of work has been done in parallel against many odds, but certainly this league will be come into reality shortly.”
The PCB revealed that every PSL franchise will have 10 local cricketers, two of which will be rising talents, and added that a maximum of six foreign players can be signed by each team as well.
The tournament will include five franchises, who will play a total of 23 matches over a 15 day period for the first three editions of the competition.
All matches will take place in the same location and only the top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals.
The PCB also have plans to expand the league in its fourth year, where it is set to include eight teams and a total of 59 matches.
Despite no information being given about the franchises’ names or regions or the companies interested in purchasing them, the PCB stated that they are hoping to complete all that and sign a broadcast deal as well by the end of this month.
Excited about the benefits this tournament could have on the country, PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf said: “A lot of hard work has been put in place to develop the PSL, the objective is to recognise the growth of T20 cricket around the world, encourage our cricketers and give them the exposure to the grass-root talent in the country. It will also provide opportunity to foreign players to compete in Pakistan.”