If you buy the most expensive franchise, pressure will be there: Karachi Kings manager

With Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara as captain and Mickey Arthur as coach, the Karachi Kings from the Pakistan  Super League has a huge fan base even though they failed to lift the coveted cup. Pakistan’s largest city and the most populated one, Karachi has produced serious talents in the history of Pakistan cricket. The likes of Javed Miandad, Moin Khan, Rashid Latif and Sarfaraz Khan are some of the big names, connected to Karachi.

Most expensive franchise

The city based franchise in the Pakistan Super League– Karachi Kings are the most expensive team in the PSL. The Franchise manager Navaid Rasheed spoke to the Express Tribune and shared his experience so far, along with the pressure the team had to face for being associated with the largest metropolitan city of Pakistan.

“In the first year, no one was sure if the tournament will take place but we were, and that’s why we invested so heavily and bought the most expensive franchise,” said Navaid. “Obviously, if you buy the most expensive franchise and that too of the largest city in the country, the pressure will be there. However, after the on-field disappointment during the first year, I believe we are going in the right direction. Our progress overall is extremely satisfactory.”

Controversies and claims

The PSL team set up trails to hire promising talents last year, but many aspirants took to social media to complain about the lack of professionalism in management. Some even said that they didn’t get to face a single delivery during the trails.

Navaid, however, didn’t agree to the accusations and claimed that the trials were conducted in a very thorough and professional manner. “The trail last year was hugely successful,” he said. “It was an open trial and it catered to more than 20 million people, so obviously we can’t satisfy everyone.  But through those trials, we managed to shortlist 400 players and then further refined the list from which we organised a hugely successful tournament.”

The Kings faced issues regarding the captain’s armband, as veteran cricketer Shoaib Malik resigned from the hot seat twice before handing the baton to Kumar Sangakkara. Navid said that it is too early to address the issue and believes things will be sorted going into next season.