Speaking exclusively to PakPassion.net ; Sultan Rana, the chief of PCB's domestic cricket department stated that the setting up of the Pakistani Premier League has been in their plans for the past couple of years.

 by Saj Sadiq

11 April 2011

As Pakistan's cricketers look on across the border in envy at the colour, riches and glitz of the Indian Premier League and wonder when their time will come to "rejoin the IPL party", the Pakistan Cricket Board are once again pushing the idea of an offshore Pakistani Premier League. 

Speaking exclusively to PakPassion.net ; Sultan Rana, the chief of PCB's domestic cricket department stated that the setting up of the Pakistani Premier League has been in their plans for the past couple of years.

"We first considered the idea a couple of years ago. The documents were complete and we were all set to go, but the attack on the Sri Lankan team meant that we had to shelve all of our plans at that time" stated Rana.

Rana though is hopeful that the plans that were prepared a couple of years ago and subsequently shelved will not go to waste and can be tweaked slightly and implemented soon.

"I recently went to Sri Lanka during the World Cup and spoke to many other countries Board representatives, but apart from Sri Lanka they are reluctant to send their players to Pakistan, so that presents a problem for us. We simply cannot host the tournament in Pakistan if we want to attract the top players."

Whilst the option of hosting the Pakistani Premier League in Pakistan is an unlikely eventuality at the moment, the other option of hosting the competition in Dubai is something that is much more likely according to Rana.

"What we are trying to do is to organise a competition in Dubai. This idea was discussed in the past and has very much been in our plans and is still on the table. I'm sure we (PCB) can organise this tournament, which will run along the lines of the Indian Premier League."