PCB’s governing board to meet today

Pakistan Super League, domestic cricket and regional sponsorship to be discussed

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Board of Governors will meet on Tuesday to discuss the progress of the highly anticipated Pakistan Super League (PSL) — the country’s proposed T20 league — as the board continues to move closer to finalising the details before the official launch of the competition.

Speculation on whether the PCB will be able to launch the project, in what will be its third attempt, is rife in cricketing circles. The board has been involved in negotiations with authorities in Qatar and the UAE to decide the final venue for the first edition, which is slated to be played in the first half of 2016.

External consultants Repucom are looking into which players will be interested in the event, so that the pool of players can be finalised for the auction. Repucom have already sent forms to the top players of the world through agents to know their feedback and interest regarding the event.

Another important agenda of the governing board meeting will be discussing the first-class domestic programme and sponsorship of regional teams.

The PCB has taken a big gamble by trying to bring in sponsors for the regions but there are doubts whether the move would be a success. The board wants regions to compete with departments and bring in corporations.

Meanwhile, the board is facing strong resistance from departments and the Karachi region after a change in the domestic structure, according to which the teams would have to go through qualifiers to play in first-class cricket, while Karachi will only have one team in the qualifiers, which has not gone down well with the Karachi Regional City Association.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th,  2015.

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