PCB should hire foreign experts for organising PPL: Shoaib Akhtar

FAZAL-UR-REHMAN

KARACHI: Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has advised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to hire foreign experts for organising Pakistan Premier League (PPL).

Akhtar has suggested that the PCB should hire the services of overseas experts in order to make sure that the proposed PPL is successful, casting doubts on the abilities of the board officials.

“Seventy year old people can’t organise the PPL,” said Akhtar. “The PCB should hire services of foreign consultants instead of old people for hosting a successful event if it really wants to organise the PPL.”

The PCB’s 2010-2011 budget was in the red, although the board received a significant financial boost after being paid compensation by the ICC for having been removed as co-hosts of the 2011 World Cup.

The 2011-2012 budget, however, offers a far from promising picture, with a deficit of approximately 700Million Pakistani rupees, a shortfall which the board aims to overcome via various means, among them the launch of the PPL.

Following the inception of the idea to launch a league similar to the hugely successful Indian Premier League (IPL), which has inspired other T20 tournaments such as the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the PCB viewed presentations on the possibility of the project in April this year, by various television broadcasting and sports management companies.

Responding to Akhtar’s comments, an unnamed board official pointed out that the PCB was already working on hiring an independent commissioner for the proposed league.

"We have even got some foreign companies to show interest in the PPL and make presentations,” said the board official, going on to suggest that Akhtar was unaware of how the board was handling the project.