The Sialkot Stallionz have officially changed their name to the Multan Sultans, Pakistan Super League (PSL) CEO Salman Naseer announced on Tuesday.

In a press conference, Naseer said that the group’s name change request, put forward by the team’s new CEO, Gohar Shah, had been officially accepted.

According to him, the name change request was Shah’s first act as CEO of the franchise, as the name ‘Multan Sultans’ had not previously been available.

“You saw him (Shah) amongst other bidders at the team auction for the Multan Sultans,” the PSL CEO said. “There was a lot of desire, passion, and I think Gohar was the most disappointed when he couldn’t get the team.”

The PSL CEO added that the option to change team names had been kept in all auction processes, including the ability to request a name that was not one of the six provided.

“At the time, I think Multan was not available, so he chose Sialkot,” Naseer said, adding that as soon as Shah came in as CEO of the franchise, he had applied for a name change, discussing the terms and conditions as well as the one-time licence fee required.

Additionally, Naseer announced that the per annum franchise fees for the team had been increased from Rs1.85bn to Rs2bn.

Gohar Shah, who was also present at the press conference and invited to speak, expressed his happiness that “south Punjab’s representation is back in the league”.

“We were wondering: how will a stallion defeat the HBL PSL alone?” he quipped. “A stallion needs a sultan.”

OZ Developers put forward a massive Rs1.85bn bid to win Sialkot at the PSL auction in January, the highest ever bid for a PSL franchise.