‘Once we do that, PSL will also attract players like De Villiers’: PCB CEO on why IPL attracts more top-quality players

The UAE leg of Pakistan Super League 6 is going to start from June 9 and ahead of the tournament’s restart, PCB CEO Wasim Khan spoke about the comparison between IPL and PSL.

The Pakistan cricket board (PCB) has been putting all its efforts to glorify their T20 tournament – Pakistan Super League (PSL). However, it continuously gets compared with the standards of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Several overseas players have also spoken about how both the leagues are different from each other while the organisers of the PSL also believe that they need to attract players like AB de Villiers to match IPL’s eminence.

Photos of PSL Trophy (L) and RCB's South African batsman AB de Villiers(HT Collage)

The UAE leg of PSL 6 is going to start from June 9 and ahead of the tournament’s restart, PCB CEO Wasim Khan spoke about the comparison between both tournaments. While speaking to Cricket Pakistan, Khan said will take some time to reach the heights of the IPL.

“At the moment, we are trying to develop the league. Before comparing it with IPL, we need to see that they are paying around 2-3 million dollars, per player, for high-level cricketers. As soon as we start paying that amount of money, we [PSL] will also attract top players.

“We need to make the current ecosystem of the PSL profitable so that more money is spent on players. Once we do that, PSL will also attract high-level players like AB de Villiers and others,” Wasim Khan was quoted as saying.

Khan further said PSL’s present financial model wasn’t sustainable and they are working continuously with the franchises to generate more income.

“[Najam] Sethi keeps on saying that we have ruined PSL but if you look at the model, prepared under previous regimes, it was never financially sustainable for the franchises for the first 10 years. We are working with the franchises on different models, in order to ensure that they generate more income. After six years, the franchises are yet to achieve profitability which is why our first priority is to make the model more sustainable,” he said.

“This is also the reason why adding more teams to the PSL also not feasible right now. It is imperative that we make the league more sustainable for the franchises,” he added.