NEW PSL TEAM
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Super League (PSL) officially increased, and now the seventh team, a new Hyderabad franchise was declared after a historic and very competitive auction was conducted on Thursday at the Jinnah Convention Centre.
It was acquired by the franchisee Kingsmen, which is owned by Mr. Fawad Sarwar after a rough bidding contest among all the other qualified bidders. The bidding was also characterized by intense rivalry and the bidders writing huge bids, which was a sign of great confidence in the emerging commercial potential and worldwide popularity of the PSL also new PSL team.
Kingsmen was the winner and it offered the best bid of Rs1.75 billion and the new franchise is owned by Kingsmen and this is a major milestone as far as the growth of the league is concerned. After the successful bid, the owners announced that the team will represent Hyderabad and this will be the seventh PSL team Hyderabadi franchise in the history of PSL.
Kingsmen Cricket Club is the fast developing cricket club with the proven international presence. It is strong in the United States especially with the Chicago Kingsmen which is a well known team in Minor League Cricket. The group has also been spreading its operation in Pakistan and the long term vision has been to build the world class cricket infrastructure, investing in grass root and developing local talent.
According to the officials of the PSL, the addition of Hyderabad was a milestone to the league and that it will not only increase the region strong representation in the league, the fan base will also increase, and the league will further establish its status as one of the best T20 league in the world.
The franchise of Hyderabad is added to the PSL, and it marks a new stage of its development, indicating the new international investments and anticipating the new season.
It is the second time the league has experienced massive expansion.
In the past Multan Sultans had become the first team to join in the third season of the PSL, which meant that the number of teams has increased to six.
This year marks the historic 11 th edition which has introduced two more teams bringing down the number of franchises to eight.
The 11 th installment of the PSL is set to be hosted between the 26 th of March and May 3 rd and is bound to give the fans in Pakistan and beyond another exciting season of cricket.
There are already seven teams that are confirmed and nine eligible bidders will compete and make even higher bids to receive the rights to the eighth and the last team and this completes the expansion of the league.
To the uninitiated, the successful bidders were free to choose a home city of PCB-approved list which comprised of Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Sialkot, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit as new PSL Teams.