PSL franchises fume over exclusion from governing board

Chairman Najam Sethi assures stakeholders they will get role in decision-making

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) may have given the thumbs up to the Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) bid to be a separate entity but that decision has not gone down well with the franchises, The Express Tribune has learnt.

According to an official close to the matter, the fuming franchises have been lodging their complaints with the top PSL management after not getting any representation in its governing board.

The newly-announced PSL governing board comprises of five members; three representing the PCB and two independent directors.

Najam Sethi, Mansoor Khan and Shakeel Sheikh are representing the PCB governing board while Arif Habib, a renowned industrialist, and Zia Rizvi, a corporate lawyer, have been included as independent directors, with one of the two tipped to become the PSL chairman as per the rules.

The PCB’s Chief Operating Officer Subhan Ahmed and Chief Financial Officer Badar Khan will be non-voting members ex officio.

“The franchises which are the main stakeholders are not pleased with being ignored from the PSL governing board,” the official told The Express Tribune. “When the idea of separating the PSL from the PCB was floated, the franchises were assured they will get key roles in the running of the league but now they have been completely snubbed.”

The official added the franchises have already expressed their disappointment and are expecting a meeting with PSL Chairman Sethi soon over the matter.

Meanwhile, when Sethi was contacted about the franchises’ grievances, he brushed aside the notion that they were being ignored.

“This is exactly why we are setting up a separate company so that they [franchises] can be accommodated in the decision-making,” Sethi told The Express Tribune. “The PCB constitution doesn’t allow it but the PSL private company articles of association will allow it.”

The PSL will start running as a separate entity following next year’s second edition and Sethi hinted that franchises will get their due role in the new set-up.

“Currently the PSL is just a department of the PCB. There is no governing board as such of the league,” said Sethi.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2016.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.