LAHORE: Pakistan Super League (PSL) chairman Najam Sethi on Monday sounded unhappy about the recent change in the dates and venue of the Masters Champions League (MCL) that will now directly coincide with the PSL for at least a week, but added that he is taking this fresh development as a new challenge and is confident of meeting it head on.

“MCL has been rescheduled now from Jan 28 to Feb 13 which clashes with our PSL and that period is a challenging one for us and obviously we are not happy over the changes,” Sethi told Dawn.

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“We had signed an MoU with MCL and they were to play it from Jan 24 to Feb 4. But now they have changed the dates. Not just that, the MCL which was to be originally played in Dubai and Abu Dhabi is now shifted to Dubai and Sharjah where the PSL matches are also scheduled to be held,” lamented Sethi.

“We have talked to the UAE cricketing authorities and they say the MCL has offered them more money and since the schedule of the PSL matches in Sharjah is not being disturbed due to the MCL fixtures, there is nothing with it.”

Sethi, however, shied away from making any comment when queried about the possibility of some hidden elements involved in running down the PSL. He quickly added, though, that despite all the problems the PSL has been facing from day one, the PCB will successfully hold it in the UAE next month.

“Though things did not go as per plan that we had envisaged, we are well on track to reach our destination and do a good job of it,” said Sethi confidently. “Earlier, even within the PCB, it was a popular opinion that the PSL will probably not take off while some even wanted us to outsource the league.”

“We then hired professional consultants to guide us in detail on how we can hold the PSL in a successful manner,” disclosed Sethi.

“Their reports suggested that the PCB could very well hold the league on its own and wanted us to set up a secretariat in Dubai which was not conducive because of the high costs involved.”

Asked to comment on the sensitive issue whether the franchises could resort to unfair means for earning profits if the PSL runs into a loss in the first few seasons, Sethi said: “Those franchises which will be making lavish expenses might face losses initially. Look it is a long-term partnership, spanning 10 years, and like any other business the franchises may face losses in the first three years or break even. But from thereon they are likely to make huge profits.

“As for the fear of match-fixing aspect, we have made very strict arrangements and have hired a highly reputed agency which is also working for the ICC. The agency will be responsible to monitor every aspect of the league and the players playing in it, and will be monitoring literally every ball and every shot to determine if anything wrong has happened or not,” disclosed Sethi.

“We just can’t afford any untoward activity from any unwanted elements because the future of PSL will be at stake,” he said.

To a question, Sethi agreed that no franchise was allowed to add any sponsor’s name with the original title given to it by PSL authorities.

“We have already written a letter to the franchises to follow the rules, but unfortunately some franchises have involved private TV channels to get publicity for their team and have added TV channels’ names to their original title. That is clearly against the rules. Hopefully, they will not violate the rules here,” he said.

Sethi said since this was the first experience for the PCB and its team of holding such a big event, some mistakes were committed. However, he promised the next PSL edition would be very smooth and comfortable.

When reminded that most leading players from around the world have stayed away from the PSL despite the efforts of the league’s two ambassadors — Wasim Akram and Ramiz Raja — Sethi said it is not the case and both the players have done a very good job and have helped him out a lot whenever he has asked for any advice or support.

It may be mentioned that the cricketing circles had hailed the hiring of Wasim and Ramiz as the PSL ambassadors and were excited about the two roping many front-ranking players for the league. However, that has not exactly happened.

When grilled about not giving out exact details about the PSL budget in media, Sethi said it is not appropriate at the moment to make any statement in this regard but promised that after the inaugural season, every detail would be presented before media and the nation.

“I am not in a position to disclose the budget of the PSL as per the experts’ advice. But everything will be shared with the media once we finish with the organisation of the inaugural season,” Sethi said.

“When you disclose the figures, it can be used in both positive and negative ways by critics. So we want to avoid such controversies at this stage.”

Sethi, though, expressed hope the PCB would earn some profit and it would try to help out the franchises to reduce their losses to some extent if they suffer any. “It does not look nice if the PCB earns any profit and its partners (franchises) incur losses. So we want to move together with a desire to remain helpful to each other. Even I am advising the franchises not to make any unnecessary expenditure,” he added.

The former PCB chief defended the decision of holding the PSL on foreign soil and revealed that not a single foreign player had marked the slot in the proforma that asked for their availability and agreement to play in Pakistan.

To a question, Sethi said though there were some issues between the PSL and the franchises, no one had raised any objection over the omission of the Sri Lankan players from the players draft ceremony because they knew that the Islanders were only available for the PSL after Feb 14.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2016