Pakistan Super League 2016 Venues, Dates and other details

Finally the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) finally confirmed the launch of their home T20 league which is named as Pakistan Super League 2016.

The league was announced first in September 2009, but domestic security concerns shelved the plans as no player and country was ready to play in Pakistan. The PCB chairman had said the tournament “would be modelled on the franchise system similar to the IPL.” A budget of Rs3.9 billion was approved to the PCB for the league, which included plans to build and upgrade 35 new stadiums in the country.

But in 2015, the wheels for the launching of the PSL was set in motion by PCB when they got former captains Wasim Akram and Ramiz Raja were signed to be the official ambassadors for the league. In the inaugural season, the league will be played with only 5 teams, but PCB has plans of expanding the number of teams to 10 over the next 5 years.

The venues for the Pakistan Super League were finalised as Dubai and Sharjah. This was done to ensure that the proposed Masters League will also be played alongside Pakistan Super League. “The Masters Cricket League would also be held nearly simultaneously at the same venues with the PSL. For example, if one day a PSL fixture is being held in Dubai the same day a match of the MCL could be scheduled in Sharjah,” the source said.

PCB organised a star-studded launch of PSL with actor-singer Ali Zafar performing the PSL anthem ‘Khel Ke Dikha Denge Aaj’ for the first time ever. The four provincial capitals – Quetta, Lahore, Karachi, and Peshawar – will be joined by Islamabad in a 5-team, 24-match tournament.

The Pakistan Super League is a franchise-based T20 cricket tournament set to take place in February 2016. With top cricket players like Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Grant Elliot, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, and Luke Wright on the PSL draft roster., the tournament has already started to create a stir in cricket world all across the world.

Though the official schedule for the PSL 2016 has not been announced yet, it is speculated that the league will start tentatively on 4^th February 2016 with the finals to be played on 24^th February 2016. The 5 teams will play each other twice in a league format and the top four teams will qualify to play in the semifinals.

Each of the 5 franchises will have a purse of $1 million to buy players and built support staff. Also, tenders have been floated for the sole purpose of finding broadcasters and producers for the Pakistan Super League.