The success of IPL cricket has shown the way to many cricket boards to try to monetise the T20 format by having their own versions of IPl with participation from players of other countries, apart from respective domestic cricketers.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) too runs the Pakistan Super League (PSL), which may not be as big or as rich as India’s IPL, but does manage to attract its fair bit of share of international cricketers.
So, in a bid to pump a fresh lease of life in PSL, former Pakistan cricketer and the new chairman of the Pakistan’s cricket board Ramiz Raja wants to attract more supertsrs — or what he calls foreign cricketers having X-factor — to PSL.
And, Raja’s medicine for this is to advise respective team franchises to offer a bigger monetary package to international superstars, which would likely bring them to play in the PSL.
According to The News newspaper of Pakistan, Raja was scheduled to have discussed this matter with the team owners last week, including the other issues being confronted by PSL.
The News reported there was a proposal that a foreign cricketer, who has got star attraction, is likely to be offered around $250,000 for his association with the PSL franchises for a season. Currently the best of the lot gets around $160,000.
For that, the PSB is expected to increase the slab for each franchise to around $1.5 million instead of one million dollars for hiring foreign players for a season.
“Ramiz wants to make the PSL more attractive and financially more lucrative for cricketers around the world,” The News quoted an unnamed source as saying.
The PSL is broadcast in India too.