PCB Announces PSL Platinum Category Cricket Players
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday announced the names of players placed in the platinum category for the inaugural edition of upcoming Pakistan Super League (PSL)
Seven Pakistani players along with 18 foreign players are placed in platinum category. The Pakistani players who are in the top category include:
Misbah-ul-Haq
Shahid Afridi
Shoaib Malik
Mohammad Hafeez
Younis Khan
Wahab Riaz
Mohammad Irfan.
The overseas players in the platinum category include:
Chris Gayle
Sunil Narine
Dwayne Bravo
Darren Sammy
Andre Russell
Kieron Pollard
Dwayne Smith
Shane Watson
Brad Haddin
Mahela Jayawardene
Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan
Lasith Malinga
Angelo Mathews
Kevin Pietersen
James Anderson
Ian Bell
Alastair Cook.
Above Image Courtesy ARY News
It should be noted that Indian Premier League (IPL) Chairman Rajiv Shukla had said that Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is ready to consider sending its players to take part in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Pakistan’s T20 league will be contested in February 2016 in the United Arab Emirates.
The PSL is a franchise based Twenty20 competition organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board, and approved by the International Cricket Council. It is meant to be a three-week tournament scheduled for February 2016, and will feature five teams, from Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Islamabad. A total of 24 matches are scheduled to be held between February 4 and 23. Each team will play a double round-robin format before playing an eliminator during the knockout stages.
The response for the PSL franchises was not as big as hoped, but the PCB still managed to attract several companies to bid for the five teams. The deal they locked was for $93 million for 10 years, with any given team costing $9.3 million per year.
Salman Iqbal, the CEO of Abdul Razzak Yaqoob (ARY) Group, a holding company with various business ventures including the TV network, bought the Karachi franchise for $26 million. An Oil Company from Qatar, a new in cricket circles, which pitched the second highest bid, won the Lahore franchise for $25 million. Haier Group in Pakistan, a consumer electronics and home appliances company who are already dealing with the PCB to sponsor domestic cricket, acquired Peshawar for $16 million.
The franchise from the capital, Islamabad, went to Leonine Global Sports, an entity created specifically for the PSL by a group of Pakistani investors, for $15 million. Omar Associate, a Karachi-based holding company with various business ventures, secured Quetta for $11 million. Omar Associate already have past links with cricket, having fielded a Grade-2 cricket team and recruited various women cricketers from the domestic circuit.
