LAHORE: While declaring the first edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) successful in terms of conveying soft image of the country and creating national unity, chairman Najam Sethi has said he is not in a position at the moment to disclose the revenue Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) earned from the tournament.

Addressing a hurriedly called press conference soon after reaching Lahore from Dubai, Sethi said, “I will give details about the revenue after two months. Currently, we are in the process of wrapping up the tournament. We have some details about the income but the final income and expenditure sheet is yet to come out. We will try to finalise all details before the next meeting of the Board of Governors.”

While giving details of the tournament, he said, “Every foreign player was happy with the way we treated them. They received their payments on time, which is usually not being practised in other leagues.

“We are receiving good feedback from Australia, India and many other countries where the PSL was highly appreciated and it conveyed a soft image of the country.

“The PSL will also help revive international cricket in Pakistan. I have requested Dean Jones of Australia and Kevin Pietersen of England to bring their players to play the PSL in Pakistan next year. And they promised for their cooperation.

“I also asked ICC Task Force chairman on Pakistan Giles Clarke to bring Commonwealth team to Pakistan. Instead of raising question about security, Mr Clarke asked how much money the PCB will give for it. This shows change that the perception of insecurity is fading away.”

The PSL chairman said the biggest achievement of the PCB at the tournament was its transparency.

“To maintain transparency, the franchises coordinated with us a lot. People feared for the match-fixing aspect but a very strict monitoring by us did not let any questionable performance happen,” he said.

When asked if he had any road-map in his mind before making an announcement during the PSL that some matches of the next edition would also be held in Pakistan, Sethi said both Sindh and Punjab governments had given the PCB full security assurance. Punjab had already successfully hosted the Zimbabwe cricket team last year.

“We are even ready to negotiate with player associations in order to convince foreign players to come to Pakistan.”

When asked that since the PCB had an experienced team for organising mega events now was it possible for them to glamorise National T20 and One-day Cup, on the pattern of PSL, which had long been held in boring ways, Sethi admitted the fact and said the proposal could be considered for inclusion of one or two foreign players in domestic events.

He added that stadiums in Pakistan were no match for the Dubai Cricket Stadium which was an international venue of high standard and acknowledged that the PCB had to improve facilities at its stadiums.

To a question, he replied that Indian players would only be invited to play the PSL when Pakistani players receive the same treatment from India.

The PSL chairman said he would try to ensure that at least two under-19 and one regional player must be part of every participating team from the next edition.

He said the PSL earned high rating of 70 per cent as compared to the Big Bash of Australia and added that the way fans thronged the stadium it had even surprised the local management of Dubai.

Sethi, however, admitted that the cost of UAE venues was very high, about US$100,000 a day.

He said there were many challenges before holding the PSL but his dedicated and hard-working team did it in a successful manner.

He said Pakistani players learnt a lot from the presence of international players and they gelled well together.

Sethi said the cash value of all the franchises would be increased to 100 per cent as they were receiving offers from many interested buyers. He said the decision was yet to be taken whether or not to raise the number of teams from five to six from the next edition.

He said the PSL would help the PCB promote the game in Balochistan and added that most of the people in Dubai were supporting Quetta Gladiators as winners, which was a very happy sign for the province.

Sethi said he was advised by some to make the PSL an autonomous body and introduce its shares in stock markets with the PCB being the major share-holder.