Zaka Ashraf takes credit for rising PSL

Author: APP

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Management Committee (MC) Zaka Ashraf has said that the PCB has managed to sell the live-streaming and broadcast rights of two seasons of the HBL PSL 9 and 10 at record high prices in the league’s history under him.

Addressing a press conference at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Wednesday, he said the PSL live-streaming rights were sold for 1.90 billion rupees, showing an increase of 113 percent from the previous edition, while the broadcast rights were for 6.30 billion rupees, a little less than the base price, which was 45 percent higher than the earlier editions.

PCB Chief Operating Officer (COO) Salman Naseer and PSL Commissioner Naila Bhatti accompanied the Chairman MC Zaka Ashraf and provided statistics to the media.

Zaka Ashraf also said more stadiums for the promotion of cricket will be added to the existing one, adding one match of the HBL PSL 9 featuring Peshawar Zalmi may be played at the Arbab Niaz stadium if the KPK government handed control of the stadium to the PCB soon.

He mentioned the Chief of the Army Staff, General Asim Munir, who had asked the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) management to provide land to the PCB for cricket. He said possession of the land for a cricket stadium in Islamabad will be handed to the PCB shortly.

Zaka further said that the Punjab government has also committed to hand over control of stadiums in Gujranwala and Sheikhupura to PCB.

Talking about his visit to Australia to meet Cricket Australia (CA) officials for stronger ties between the two boards, he said the PCB and CA have agreed in principle to ensure the scheduling of the PSL and the Big Bash League (BBL) does not clash with each other in future.

He said this will keep intact a good pool of players for both leagues, considering the large number of T20 leagues being played across the globe.

He said that as per the mutual understanding, both boards will provide frequent tours to the women, Shaheens, and U-19 teams, which will help players get acclimatized to the conditions in both countries.

About the pitch curators, he said the CA Chairman Mike Baird has offered PCB to send its curators to learn from the pitch curators in Australia and then pass on this knowledge to the others in stadiums across Pakistan.