Cricket stars may skip PSL to play IPL

ISLAMABAD: This year, the Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to hold the Pakistan Super League in April due to the ICC Champions Trophy, at a time when the Indian Premier League will also start in India, which is financially most attractive in the world.

Most of world famous players have signed contracts with the IPL and except for a few big names, they will not be seen in action in the PSL starting from April 7 next year. Even the big names of Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are not available for the PSL due to the attraction of money in India. The most significant difference between the leagues of Pakistan and India is media rights. After the participation of billionaire Indian businessmen, big business houses and Bollywood stars, an Indian broadcaster paid INR 88,000 crore (Rs10.7 billion) for the worldwide broadcasting rights of the IPL from 2022 to 2027. PSL’s media rights also went up, but there was a significant difference between the two due to India’s huge market. The PSL made significant progress and sold its media rights for 2024 and 2025 for $6.3 billion (roughly Rs52,000 crore).

According to Jang’s research, the brand value of PSL is around 88000 crore Pakistani rupees. Pakistan’s hotel, transport, airline industry and other industries got business worth crores of rupees due to the tournament. The Indian Premier League started in 2008. Ten years later, the franchises were given ownership rights, while the custodian of six PSL teams is the PCB. In the revenue sharing model, the PCB reserves the right to sell a franchise if it refuses to continue the agreement after the completion of ten years next year.

Franchise owners claim that after nine years, they still do not get much profit from the PSL because players are paid in dollars, which valued Rs106 when the league started, compared to Rs275 today. A franchise of the PSL pays nearly 9 crore Pakistani rupees to the PCB annually, while the most expensive player of the league belongs to the platinum category, who is paid around Rs7 billion. Two-time former champions Lahore Qalandars pay a fee of $25 million to the PCB every year. Multan Sultans were sold last, so their annual fee is $63 million.

Compared to the Pakistan Super League, the Indian Premier League is considered the biggest in the world because apart from Indian cricketers, players from all over the world get huge money by playing the league. According to the Indian media, a few days ago, when the Indian League auction was held in Jeddah, each team had a budget of about 400 crore Pakistani rupees and some of that money was spent on retaining players. Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant became the most expensive player in the history of the IPL during the mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as the 27-year-old Pant will get 88 crore Pakistani rupees for playing for Lucknow Supergiants. Pant’s former teams Delhi Capitals and Supergiants both made huge bids to keep him in their respective teams. Pant, who was badly injured in a car accident two years ago and had been out of the team for 14 months, returned to the IPL this year.

Mitchell Starc, who set a record in the previous IPL auction, got just over 36.5 crore rupees in Pakistani currency this time and will also be a part of Delhi Capitals. Last year, he received more than 85 crores rupees from Kolkata Knight Riders. The second most expensive player after Pant is Shreyas Iyer, who will get more than Rs85.5 crore from Punjab Kings. The third most expensive player is Venkatesh Iyer who was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for more than 75 crores in Pakistani rupees. The IPL has reached 33 billion Pakistani rupees with an overall increase of 13% in brand value. As per the brand finance IPL 2024 evaluation report, from its value of 6 billion rupees in 2009, the league crossed 30 billion rupees for the first time in 2023. Four teams – Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and Kolkata Knight Riders – have crossed the Rs227 crore mark in brand value for the first time. The top five teams in the IPL have the potential to raise their brand value to the levels seen in major football leagues such as the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1.

The IPL’s efficient business structure and match organization have become a blueprint for global leagues, strengthening the BCCI’s position while providing significant opportunities for domestic cricketing talent to flourish.

More than 500 players were among those who were part of the huge IPL auction. This year, Saudi Arabia was the host of IPL’s ‘Mega Auction’. It is a partnership between two parties where one (Saudi Arabia) wants to improve its reputation in the sports sector while the other (IPL) is the most expensive cricket tournament in the world.