Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani said Wednesday that the sixth franchise of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) will be sold with all due diligence, media reports said.
Earlier, the board terminated the franchise agreement with Schon and reserved all rights to itself. The termination was brought about due to the former franchisee’s inability to meet its financial obligations under the agreement.
Speaking to the reporters at the National Stadium in Karachi, Mani said that many parties have shown interest in buying the franchise.
“Five to six parties have shown serious interest in purchasing the franchise but we will do proper due diligence before reaching a decision on this,” said Mani.
The PCB had maintained that the fourth edition of PSL will go ahead as planned with six teams and the same number of matches. The Board will take complete responsibility of all player and coach contracts. Pending further updates, the team shall be referred to as “The Sixth Team” of PSL.
Meanwhile, Mani confirmed that the final match of PSL4 will be played in Karachi. He said he has visited Karachi to check the progress of development work in the National Cricket Stadium. He continued to add that Karachi has given incomparable cricket gems.
Speaking about the resumption of Indo-Pak cricketing ties, he said: “We had a dialogue with BCCI on this but we will never force anyone to play with us. After talks with Indian officials I sensed that they are keen to have Pakistan-India Series.”
PCB is in talks with BCCI for Indo-Pak Series but decisions will be taken after general elections in India, said the chairman.
Talking about the issue surrounding Sarfraz Ahmed’s captaincy, Mani said that he will remain captain of the side until the 2019 World Cup.
“Yes InshaAllah [God willing],” he said. “Sarfraz is the captain of Pakistan and will continue in the role because he has performed well in all three formats of the game. I don’t see any controversy in this and the cricket committee has nothing to do with it. The committee can only give a recommendation but I will be taking the final decision.”
He said changes will be brought in the board in future.
