Pakistan Premier League to be played in March next year: PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Zaka Ashraf has said that Pakistan Premier League (PPL) would be held in March next year.

Addressing a press conference, he said that international payers were being contacted as the premier league would be a success only after a large number of international players took part.

He hoped that international cricket would soon be restored in Pakistan, adding that matches of World XI were not possible in Pakistan without the cooperation of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

However, the Cricket South Africa (CSA) refused to reschedule their series, which could delay Pakistan’s plans for a domestic Twenty20 tournament.

After the huge success of the IPL and similar leagues around the world, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is planning to launch their own version.

According to the reports, the PCB has offered substantial sums of money to players from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Australia and the West Indies to appear in the PPL, but security fears will be a huge hurdle to convincing them to come.

Pakistan successfully hosted two Twenty20 exhibition matches with an International World XI involving players from Sri Lanka, South Africa, the West Indies and Afghanistan in Karachi on Saturday and Sunday

International cricket has been suspended in Pakistan over security worries since deadly militant attacks on the Sri Lankan team bus during the second Test in Lahore in March 2009.

The PCB wanted to stage the Pakistan Premier League (PPL) in March next year but the plan was set back after South Africa refused to rearrange the Pakistan national team’s tour.

Pakistan are scheduled to play three Tests, five one-day internationals and two T20s between February 1 and March 24 and wanted the tour to be pushed forward to accommodate the PPL.

PCB spokesperson Nadeem Sarwar observed, “We requested Cricket South Africa to change the itinerary so that we could expand the window for our Premier league, but they said that the tickets for the series are already sold out and it’s not possible now.”

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Oct 24 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.