Pakistan Junior League franchise model abandoned by PCB

PCB abandons PJL

After a failed move to attract bids for the ownership of franchises, PCB took over the ownership of the inaugural edition and announced six teams for the league. 

The Pakistan Cricket Board has been forced to shelve the franchise mode they tried to adopt for the inaugural edition of Pakistan Junior League- a league for the nation's under-19 cricketers. 

The board has stated that 140 cricketers from 18 countries had expressed their interest in participating in the tournament. Players between the age of 15-19 will be picked through a process of drafting, due to be held on September 6. The tournament is supposed to have been the brainchild of PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja. 

The board was forced to make such a move due to the bidders falling well short of the base price the board had set for the ownership of the sides. This was followed by the board taking up over the ownership of the league and announcing names of the six sides taking part in the league. The six sides were Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Gwadar, Hyderabad, Mardan and Bahwalpur. 

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Talking about the move, PCB CEO Faisal Hasnain said in a release:

 "This gives us the chance to present to the world and to all our valued commercial partners that this is an event that has high value, context and is here to stay.

"While the process for the sale of other commercial inventory is ongoing and we remain confident of attracting high-quality sponsors, I want to thank all the investors who expressed their interest in procuring team naming rights. We will continue the discussions with them after the completion of the tournament, with a future aim of building a long-term relationship."

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