PSL Teams and Foreign Players fight; Pakistan Cricket Board in a mess before Champions Trophy 2025

The franchises of the Pakistan Super League are believed to be in disagreement with the star foreign cricketers. PCB is in a mess before the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

The development comes almost a month ahead of the PSL draft, which will take place on January 11 next year.

The dates for the next year's PSL are also likely to be changed because of the Champions Trophy 2025, which be hosted by Pakistan next year. The reports confirm that the PSL might take place during April-May next year.

As a result, it is likely to clash with the IPL. The signing of star foreign players is important for the Pakistan Super League as it attracts a huge audience. However, the recent disagreement has brought this to a standstill.

Also read: IPL 2025: Bhuvneshwar Kumar issues an official statement for the 1st time as an RCB player

Huge disagreement between star foreign players and franchises

According to local reports in Pakistan, the PSL franchises are not pleased with the idea of allowing the player's agents to negotiate directly with the respective teams. This has brought their signing to a standstill and it remains to be seen how both the parties deal with it.

There are also concerns that offering an amount of around $5,00,000 can affect the whole market and even upset the remaining players in the draft.

Star foreign cricketers have become a point of contention among PSL franchises, with some owners opposing the idea of allowing agents to negotiate directly with teams. Concerns have been raised that offering a player up to $500,000 could disrupt the market and upset other players

— Saleem Khaliq (@saleemkhaliq) December 13, 2024

Big players to have played in PSL before

While the problems have started to mount in Pakistan's franchise-based league, it remains to be seen how they find a solution to deal with it. The star foreign players have been the main attraction of the league over the years with the likes of James Vince, Kieron Pollard, Tim Seifert, Rashid Khan, and Tabraiz Shamsi featuring in the league.

But since the dates of the Pakistan Super League are colliding with the IPL next year, the availability of all the star foreign players was always going to be a challenge. The franchises even wrote to the PCB regarding this situation and the availability of foreign players for the league.

PSL targeting unsold IPL players

According to recent reports, the Pakistan Super League is also targeting the unsold foreign players of the Indian Premier League. Some of the big names like David Warner, Kane Williamson, Adil Rashid, Keshav Maharaj, Donovan Ferrara, Daryl Mitchell, Jonny Bairstow, and Akeal Hossain recently went unsold in the IPL auction.

The franchise owners want the PCB to talk to the players' agents and the respective boards to consider them for the league. This will also allow the league to be hosted alongside the IPL without any hindrance.

While the Pakistan Super League will be hosted in April-May next year, the biggest problem in Pakistan cricket currently is the hosting right for the Champions Trophy 2025. Pakistan were the designated host for the tournament but India's reluctance is likely to make the tournament to be played in a hybrid model.