The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Pakistan composed of 5 member clubs. Headquartered in Lahore, the PSL is widely considered to become the premier professional cricket league in Pakistan. The PSL Cup will be awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season.
After several years of planning, the Pakistan Super League will officially begin on February 4, 2016, in the United Arab Emirates, after the suspension of operations of its predecessor organization, the Haier T20 League, which had been founded in 2004. The PSL immediately took the place as one of the leagues that contested for the annual T20 cup. The PSL will begin with five teams (all based in Pakistan) and, through a series of expansions over the next several seasons, will expand to a 10 team league with two conferences. The league draws many highly skilled players from all over the world and currently has players from approximately 11 different countries. Pakistanis have historically constituted the majority of the players in the Haier T20 League – in the PSL there will be an increasing percentage of Asian and European players. The early commercial rights of franchises were sold out for Rs94 Crores ($93 million) for the span of 10 years in December 2015.
History
The history of the Pakistan Super League begins with the end of its predecessor league, the Haier T20 Cup (known previously as the ABN-AMRO Twenty-20 Cup, RBS Twenty-20 Cup and Faysal Bank Twenty-20 Cup). The Haier T20 Cup began in the 2004–05 season and quickly established itself as the premier professional Twenty20 cricket league in Pakistan with 14 member clubs, of which are 13 were located in Pakistan and 1 in Afghanistan. Pakistan was one of the first countries to start a domestic T20 competition.[2] The T20 Cup was awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season. Of the 9 played seasons, the Sialkot Stallions were the most dominant team winning the championship a total of 6 times. The 2015–16 season was the final season of the Haier T20 Cup in which the Peshawar Panthers defeated the Karachi Dolphins by 7 wickets at Rawalpindi.
Foundation
In September 2015, the PCB officially announced the launch of the Pakistan Super League, with its inaugural season to be played in 2016. Former captains Wasim Akram and Rameez Raja have signed formal contracts to be brand ambassadors of the PSL for the next three years. In its inaugural season, the PSL will only have five teams, with plans for an expansion to a ten league team over the next 5 seasons. The league will use the draft system for player recruitment, similar to that of the National Football League in the United States, as opposed to the “auction” used in other T20 leagues. The PSL’s official logo and anthem of the first season were launched on 20 September 2015 in a launching ceremony in Lahore. The anthem, Ab Khel Ke Dikha, was sung by Ali Zafar and the PSL logo was revealed by 3Di. The ceremony was attended by current and retired cricketers, as well as showbiz celebrities.
Inaugural season
The inaugural 2016 PSL season will commence on 4 February 2016 and end on 23 February 2016. The five teams for the first season will represent five major cities of Pakistan – Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar.
League organization
Ambassadors
Following were announced as Ambassadors for PSL
Pakistan Rameez Raja
Pakistan Wasim Akram
Franchises
Pakistan Super League is located in Pakistan KingsKings QalandarsQalandars GladiatorsGladiators ZalmiZalmi UnitedUnited
Location of PSL clubs
According to Initial reports, around 20 parties shown interest in buying franchises. Shoaib Akhtar the former Pakistan fast bowler has expressed his interest in owning a franchise. Haier, represented by Javed Afridi, the CEO in Pakistan, has also shown interest in owning a franchise. On October 18, 2015 PCB offered tenders for bidding the franchises. According to statement by PCB, the bid winners will be granted right of each franchise for a term of 10 years. The interested parties had to apply for bidding before November 15. According to a press release, the interested bidding parties include ARY Media Group, Omar Associates, Arif Habib Group, Haier, Mobilink as well as two foreign groups including Venture Capital of UAE and Qatar Lubricants Company (QALCO).
All the 5 franchises for the PSL were sold on December 3, 2015. Several companies bought the bidding documents, but only seven presented formal proposals, which also included companies from the Middle East.
The early commercial rights of franchises were sold out for US$93 million for the span of 10 years in December 2015.The PSL’s title sponsorship goes to Pakistan’s Primary bank Habib Bank Limited.Karachi became the most expensive team with the ARY Group shelling out $26 million to gain ownership.
ARY Group purchased Karachi Kings for $26 million
Qatar Oil purchased Lahore Qalandars for $25 million
Leonine Global Sports purchased Islamabad United for $15 million
Haier purchased Peshawar Zalmi for $16 million
Omar Associates purchased Quetta Gladiators for $11 million
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