Date:15/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/15/stories/2008051555922200.htm

Sport - Cricket

Great response to PPL proposal: PCB

Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board has got a tremendous response to buy franchise rights for teams in the planned Pakistan Premier League Twenty20 competition.

A senior official of the Board said on Wednesday that the only thing holding up the organisation of the Pakistan edition of the successful Indian Premier League was finding a slot in the packed Future Tours Programme of the ICC.

“The response from companies and organisations and even individuals to buy franchise rights or sponsor teams in the PPL have been beyond our expectations,” the official said.

“We are trying to find a suitable slot in 2009 when teams are free and most players are available because we also want the involvement of overseas players,” he stated. The official said the Board had studied closely the IPL model and was confident of repeating the success in the PPL. The PCB official said Twenty20 cricket even at the domestic level had been a great success in Pakistan and it was, in fact, Pakistan which was among the first countries to launch a domestic Twenty20 tournament.

He said the PPL would feature in the talks with prospective bidders for the media rights of Pakistan cricket for the next five years.

“Obviously, the IPL is on a much bigger scale as India has a big commercial and marketing market. But we think the PPL can also be done successfully.” — PTI