LAHORE: The Chief Executive Officer of Lahore Qalandars, Atif Rana on Wednesday played down the reports of any deadlock between the Pakistan Super League franchises and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) over the new financial model but admitted that the dispute may threaten the very existence of the popular PSL if not resolved quickly and amicably.

Talking to Dawn exclusively, Atif said: “The biggest hurdle in the way of the PSL’s existence is its financial model which is not workable and all the stakeholders should be on one page to solve all problems and to provide a win-win situation for everyone.”

“There is no fight of franchises with the PCB over this issue. But yes, detailed negotiations are going on between the two sides. There is no harm in bringing changes in the financial model which will ultimately further raise the reputation of the PSL,” he said.

“PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani has also admitted that it is a matter which needs to be solved and he is trying for it amicably. But it is a fact that with the current financial model, I don’t see PSL will be a sustainable venture in future,” Atif said candidly.

When reminded that PCB’s stance is that the PSL franchise owners had happily agreed to the existing financial model five year back but are now showing reservations, Atif said: “Yes we did sign it but our demand from day-one was to change it. Then PCB chairman Najam Sethi had assured us that he will change it but first let the league be launched. So in the national interest we went along with the belief that the PCB will fulfill its commitment,” he recalled.

When asked whether the PCB could terminate the contract of the PSL franchises if no solution is reached, Atif said: “It means then definitely the PCB will go for fresh bidding but the next buyers will also face the same problems due to the financial model. So there is a need to remove the root cause of the contention instead of taking the steps of sabotaging the most successful and popular brand of the country.”

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Atif argued that it was unfair that while Quetta Gladiators’ price was lower and Multan Sultans’ was higher, yet from the central pool of revenue all the teams had equal share of profit or loss. He said unlike the PSL, the Indian Premier League offers more opportunities to the franchises to grow as they were not bound to pay the annual fees of their teams to the BCCI.

“Moreover they have the advantage of playing/hosting home and away matches to earn revenue,” he pointed out.

“In PSL all the franchises are in losses, but the PCB is in profit. So how can such a project go on successfully?” he asked.

To a question about losing the lop-sided final of PSL-V to Karachi Kings in Karachi last month, Atif said a poor batting strip was made for the final and there was not much thrill about the match itself. “It would have been much more entertaining had it been a sporting surface and then my team would have had greater chance to win it.”

He said it was unfortunate that the first time when the entire PSL was staged in Pakistan, it was hit by Covid-19. “Holding the next PSL edition without spectators due to the same pandemic would not be beneficial as far as the financial aspect is concerned. Lets hope things get better.”

Commenting on Lahore Qalandars’ five-year journey in the PSL, Atif said: “Overall, it has been a roller coaster ride for us. Interesting and thrilling and yet quite challenging.”

“We lost some matches from winning positions and won some when they seemed lost,” he observed. “In the last edition, after losing first three matches we had almost been written off. But we bounced back handsomely to play the final for which the credit went to the decision of appointing Sohail Akhtar as captain and to include players from our own players’ development programme,” he said.

Atif claimed that the Lahore Qalandars’ role in Pakistan cricket was bigger than that of any other franchises. “We have a contract with Australian cricket, sending our emerging team there annually. We have also built our own Performance Centre in Lahore and have organised community cricket, besides introducing players’ development programe which provided us nine players out of 18 who featured in PSL V,” said Atif while taking pride in LQ’s marvelous efforts.

“We went to pick the talent from far flung areas like Azad Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan, South Punjab which increased the PSL popularity as well as of LQ and discovered some fine talented players.”

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2020