LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday announced the inclusion of a seventh team in country’s Twenty20 League, the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
The announcement surprised the followers and fans of the T20 league as no such plan was announced before or after the November 12 PSL Draft.
The team named ‘MM’ (Mainstreamed Militants) unveiled its logo, top picks and official merchandise in a presser at Rawalpindi’s Continental Hotel.
“We wanted to keep everything secret until today. The plan to buy and launch the team was made (by the owners) silently and PCB too silently approved the inclusion of the team in the upcoming PSL almost silently for ‘Silence is also a form of expression’,” team’s brand ambassador Hamza Ali Abbasi told media when asked about the sudden announcement.
Team’s launch was not the only surprise of the evening, as it was revealed during the presser that MM is the only team which is managed completely by senior defence analysts General (retired) Amjad Zohaib and General (retired) Faraz Awan and not by ex-cricketers.
Team Manager General (retired) Amjad Zohaib told media that the owners of the team want to bring past militants into the national fold and as some of them are being allowed to join national politics, remaining others should be allowed to play cricket.
“What better way to introduce them to the world than our own PSL, what better time to do it than 2018,” added Zohaib.
President of the team, Faraz Awan, on his turn announced the top picks of the team, which include Hafiz Waheed, Yasir Nawaz Jhangvi and Uzair Hanfi.
Faraz also announced that the team will not pick any international players other than from Zimbabwe and does not need to participate in PSL Draft.
The team’s president announced Zimbabwe’s General Constantine Guveya Chiwenga and Major General S.B. Moyo as the franchise’s top foreign picks.
Surprisingly, those in Lahore remained tight-lipped about why a team was allowed to register itself as a PSL franchise long after the PSL Draft ceremony, who are the owners of this team and why they held a separate presser to announce their plans.
When asked, PCB chief Sethi repeated Abbasi by saying “Silence is also a form of expression”.
Journalists and cricketing fraternity also objected upon the way the owners were given rights to own the team without going through a proper bidding process.
DISCLAIMER: The article is a work of satire and fiction and in no way attempts to depict events in real life.
The writer is a digital journalist who works for ARY News and has in the past worked for DAWN.com. He loves to write political satire. He tweets @anees_avis