F.P. Report
KARACHI: Quetta Gladiators, the finalist team of both previous Pakistan Super League (PSL) editions and defending champions Peshawar Zalmi have said that they were not the franchises which have been defaulting.
“All of our accounts are clear with the board. We are not the ones that are defaulting,” a source in Quetta Gladiators told PPI, requesting anonymity.
Meanwhile, a section of media has also quoted a PCB source that Quetta Gladiators, owned by business tycoon Nadeem Omar, have all of its accounts cleared with PCB.
Earlier, according to media reports, five out of the six franchises have not been paying their dues to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) despite PSL season three is just around the corner. But two of the franchises – Gladiators and Zalmi have said that they were not the defaulting ones.
Another source said that sponsors have been irked by the news that franchises were defaulting. “Which sponsor would strike a deal with a franchise that might lose its franchise rights?” questioned the source.
Despite Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Najam Sethi has tweeted on Saturday that PSL 3 is firmly on track there has been several reports that the board and PSL franchises have been on a collision course for some time that may prove dangerous for Pakistan’s biggest sports event. Some franchises have criticized PCB for supporting T10 league in UAE as it posed a potential threat for franchises of losing its sponsors, who may have switched to new ten-over league.
Moreover, franchises have also criticized PCB for keeping everything for itself, even better part of the branding of the ground during PSL match. According to a source, the ground branding is generally distributed equally between the playing teams in PSL type leagues. Peshawar Zalmi officially announced that it has also cleared all of its payments with PCB within time and at the moment all of their energies are focused towards defending the title.
“We at Peshawar Zalmi firmly believe that Pakistan Super League is the country’s biggest sports brand. We will continue with our efforts in not only supporting this mega event but also bringing back cricket to Pakistan,” Zalmi announced.
