KARACHI - The stupendous success of the National Super Eights T20 Cup held in Lahore has once again raised the hopes of the Pakistan cricket authorities that their ambition of launching an international Super League could become a reality this year.
The PCB had planned to launch the five-team Pakistan Super League T20 (PSL) from March 26th, but postponed it in February due to time constraints and other issues. "The PSL can be launched this year. Because one thing is clear there is a big market for T20 cricket in our country," PCB chairman, Zaka Ashraf said. Ashraf was the chief guest at the Super Eights final at the Gaddafi stadium on Sunday where around 35,000 people packed the stadium to watch Misbah-ul-Haq's Faisalabad Wolves side upset the Sialkot Stallions led by Pakistan's former captain Shoaib Malik.
"We are pushing for the PSL because we know it is the best way to restore the confidence of the other cricket playing nations in us and our security," Ashraf said. No test playing nation has visited Pakistan because of security fears since militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in March, 2009. "When we can have such crowds for a domestic T20 competition imagine what the PSL can do for Pakistan cricket," Ashraf said. "Don't forget we had tickets for the super eight cup but people paid to come and watch the matches," he said. Ashraf said the board had also implemented a new security plan for the Super 8's Cup which proved to be a success as the event was held without any incident. The PCB chief said that there were two windows available to the PCB to hold the PSL this year.
"We are looking at them but we need to have international players in the league. We already have an agreement with the Sri Lankan board that their players will come to play in our league whenever it is held," he added.