PCB targets David Warner, Kane Williamson among other IPL unsold players for PSL 2025. (Photo Source: Twitter)
The upcoming edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is very likely to clash with the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) won’t be able to host the next edition of the PSL in the desired February-March window due to the upcoming Champions Trophy and is expected to push it for March and April window when IPL is expected to take place in India.
Since both high-profile tournaments are expected to overlap, multiple star cricketers won’t be available for PSL 2025 as IPL contracts are much more lucrative. For that reason, several PSL franchises have requested that PCB consider the IPL unsold cricketers for the next edition. The list includes marquee cricketers such as David Warner, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Keshav Maharaj, Kusal Mendis and Daryl Mitchell among others.
“The team owners want the PCB to talk to the agents and boards of these players and confirm their availability for the PSL 2025,” said an insider to India Today.
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Meanwhile, Pakistan were also inspired by BCCI’s idea of hosting the auction in a foreign country. The 2025 IPL mega-auction was hosted in Jeddah and PCB are now planning for something similar. As per reports, they are considering London and Dubai as viable options to host the 2025 Players’ Draft. It was recently discussed by the PCB officials and franchise owners but nothing has been finalised. However, the franchise owners are said to be interested as they believe that their brand image will get better due to this.
“The franchise owners are in favour of having the players draft either in London or Dubai as they feel it would improve the brand image of the league,” said the source.
Meanwhile, there’s still confusion regarding the Champions Trophy. According to reports, Pakistan have accepted the hybrid model after some of their demands were accepted but ICC has not sent out any official confirmation and neither the schedule of the tournament has been revealed.