Double headers in Lahore and Karachi in next PSL, remarks Najam Sethi

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) has been acting as a savior for Pakistan cricket in the recent times. The T20 league, which has seen two successful editions, saw competitive cricket of international sorts make a comeback to the Pakistani soil. The finals of PSL 2017 was played at Lahore and was a big hit. Now, the PSL chief Najam Sethi has vouched to schedule 8 matches of the T20 league in Pakistan in the next edition.

As per the recent reports in Tribune, Najam Sethi remarked that the cities of Karachi and Lahore will get to witness double headers as well in the 2018 edition of the tournament. Moreover, he noted that the overseas players will have it in their contracts to be a part of the fixtures to be played in Pakistan. He added that there would be added incentives for the players traveling to Pakistan.

“This time around we are going to hold eight matches in Pakistan. Two double headers will take place in Karachi and two double headers will take place in Lahore. All players featuring in the third edition of the PSL will be obliged to play in Pakistan. It will be part of their contract that they will be playing here,” he quoted.

“So if a player was getting let’s say $10,000 for that match, then he will be getting $15,000. It is just a way to sweeten the deal for them,” Najam Sethi added further.

Addition of new teams

Sethi further noted that the tournament has grown in stature in manifolds. He remarked that there were only 6 bidders for the 5 teams when the inaugural edition of the tournament went underway. Now, that the committee invited bids for the 6th PSL team, as many as 30 bidders showed interest.

“We had a total of six eligible bidders for the five teams when we began two years ago. It is a measure of how far the league has come that this time around we have 30 bidders for one team,” quoted Najam Sethi.

Lastly, he added that the addition of 6th team will not be the end of the road for PSL. There are plans to rope in 8 teams on the roster in the future. “The initial model is of eight teams and we will be trying to bring it to eight as soon as possible,” added Sethi.