Several PSL franchises have embarked on a warpath with the UAE-based T10 league, writing a letter to the PCB chairman Ehsan Mani to express alarm at the encroachment of the T10 league into what they consider their territory.
The letter, which ESPNcricinfo has obtained a copy of, “highlights serious concerns”, and among other things, asks that the PCB prevent its players from participating in the league. The PSL franchises ask the board to prevent the use of names of Pakistani cities in franchises that will play the T10 League. The letter also claims the “promotional activities of these teams in the heartlands and territories of PSL teams” may damage the PSL teams’ reputation, divert their sponsors and draw away their fan base.
The letter, which ESPNcricinfo understands all but one of the six PSL franchises are in agreement upon, requests the PCB to announce publicly that the cricket board has not authorised the T10 League. In addition, they have requested the PCB to prevent the T10 League from seeking sponsorships in Pakistan.
The recurring theme throughout the letter is the signatories seeking to prevent the Emirates T10 cricket League taking on names such as Karachians, Pakhtoon and Punjabi Legends. Terming it “a mean attempt by a foreign entity to target Pakistani cricket viewership market despite the fact that the T10 Cricket League has no indigenous affiliation with Pakistan or people of Pakistan”, they warned the PCB such actions needed to be nipped in the bud before it was too late and the “menace of foreign cricket leagues” had encroached on Pakistan’s domestic structure.