Pakistan's bid to stage its first-ever Twenty20 league received a shot in the arm with the sale of five franchises for $93 million for 10 years, its cash-strapped cricket board has announced. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had been trying to launch a Pakistan Super League (PSL), an annual competition based on lucrative leagues in India and Australia, but bids in 2013 and 2014 were stalled due to lack of sponsorship. On Thursday the PCB announced it has sold five teams — from Quetta, Peshawar, Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad — for the league to be staged in Dubai and Sharjah from Feb. 4-23 next year. The PCB said top players like West Indian Chris Gayle and former England batsman Kevin Pietersen are among a host of players who have agreed to play in the competition, while it has also attracted leading coaches for the teams. The coach selection process for all five teams will take place in the next 10 days and the player draft event will take place by the end of December. The PCB announced last month that Sri Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya, former Australian World-Cup winning coach John Buchanan, and former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad were the latest signings on the coach roster. Other new signings included Australians Dean Jones, Steve Rixon, Simon Helmot, England's Mick Newell and Ian Pont, and South Africa's David Nosworthy and Dale Benkenstein. "The PCB is proud to announce that the PSL's commercial rights for franchises, title sponsorship, and broadcast have been sold," said a PCB release. PSL chairman Najam Sethi, a former chairman of the PCB, said the deals show progress being made in the PSL bids. "I am delighted with these positive developments and this is a major achievement in our PSL journey," he said. "The best part is that all team owners are ardent cricket fans and their dedication will make this league a success." PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan last month warned the inaugural edition of the Twenty20 league will suffer losses, but the PCB will earn profits in the following editions. The PCB has lost close to $100 million in revenue since an attack on the visiting Sri Lankan team's bus in Lahore in 2009 suspended international cricket in the country, forcing it to play at neutral venues in the United Arab Emirates. — Agencies
