LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — The PCB head said he was “shocked” when he was told that only $100,000 had been set aside for the branding of PSL in late December. Sethi increased the money to $1 million after convincing the six franchise owners to bear half the amount.
“I went to Dubai and saw all the drafts (of branding),” Sethi said. “I went through all the technical details, approved it and increased the branding budget to 10 times.”
Najam Sethi is interested to add two more teams, with the approval of six present franchises, in the PSL and make it a bigger league.
“It should be a win-win situation for everyone,” he said. “Next month we will decide how to add two more teams and after 10 years how to tweak the model of PSL.”
It is the first time that the PCB organized PSL at four venues with Multan and Karachi hosting the first leg of the tournament before the league was moved to Rawalpindi and Lahore.
Sethi said it was tough learning for the PCB to organize 34 league games in four cities, but it has given them enough experience, if in future, it hosts the event abroad with United States as one of the potential venues.
“We were managing two production teams and many a time the turnaround time was very tight, but their undying spirit and resolve made sure that we never faced any obstacles,” he said, adding that the PCB even sought help from Pakistan Air Force, which provided a C-130 aircraft on a short notice when production equipment had to be transported from Karachi to Lahore during the tournament.
The quality of cricket played during the tournament also impressed Sethi with most of the Pakistani players dominating the tournament. There was a run-fest in Rawalpindi where a T20 world record 515 runs were scored in a game between Multan Sultans and Quetta Gladiators with opening batter Usman Khan scoring the fastest ever PSL century off 36 balls.
Multan also chased over 240 against Peshawar in Rawalpindi, while Jason Roy of England recorded the highest ever individual PSL score of 145 not out while representing Quetta against Peshawar in another over-240 run-chase.