According to Sportstar, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has requested approval from the Pakistan Government's Ministry of Sports to hold a T10 tournament later this month.
The players that are scheduled to participate in other leagues may not be available, though.
“The board’s cricket management committee wants to have the T10 league from January 24-28 and wants all the contracted players to participate in the league. The problem is (that) some of the players are already committed to play in the Emirates International T20 League in UAE and some have been offered contracts for the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL),” one of the reliable sources aware of the situation stated.
“A large number of players with good contract offers for the BPL are still waiting for their NOCs,” the source added.
MORE: Trouble in Pakistan camp amid New Zealand series
Pakistan Government prohibits PCB from organising T10 League
After initiating talks with English County Cricket Club Middlesex, Zaka Ashraf, the head of the PCB Management Committee, established plans to host the T10 League in Pakistan.
Exhibition matches in Rawalpindi, slated for January 24–26, were part of the proposed event. However, the board's request for authorization was turned down by the Pakistani government.
A five-person group reportedly gave the Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) a thorough project briefing in Islamabad, according to a report from Cricket Pakistan.
The budget for the exhibition matches was subsequently decreased to PKR 28 crores. But concurrently, the government addressed a letter to the PCB headquarters in Lahore, telling them to keep their actions to everyday matters and forbidding the setting up of fans, chairs, and solar panels in stadiums.
Furthermore, the government put limitations on the Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) that might be signed with any cricket board.
Zaka Ashraf will be in charge of the situation during the next meeting of the PCB Management Committee. The creation of a new governing board, with four delegates from each of the four departments and areas, is one of the matters on the agenda for the meeting.
Meanwhile, a few former cricket players have questioned why such an event is being held so soon before the Pakistan Super League, which gets underway in Lahore on February 18.
“Why have a T10 league at all? Hasn’t this reliance on T20 cricket caused enough problems for the players and affected performance of the national team?” questioned former Test spinner Iqbal Qasim.
“Already, so many players are now only interested in playing T20 cricket and now with this encouragement of T10 league, the board will face more problems over availability of players,” former Pakistan player Mohsin Khan said while rubbishing the decision.
What is T10 cricket? A look at which countries have a T10 tournament
T10, or Ten10, is the shortest format of the game.
Each team plays 10 overs (or 60 legal deliveries) in their respective innings, with one full T10 game lasting approximately 90 minutes (one-and-a-half hours).
The first-ever T10 tournament was the Abu Dhabi T10 (or the T10 League), which was played in 2017. In 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) officially sanctioned the league as a "semi-professional cricket tournament."
It was founded by UAE's Shaji Ul Mulk, the chairman of the T10 Sports Management. The company oversees a lot of T10 tournaments across the globe.
Over the years, various different T10 tournaments have emerged and gained prominence. In late 2023, the first-ever tennis ball T10 tournament was announced, called the Indian Street Premier League (ISPL). You can read more about it here.
Here are the different T10 tournaments in the world:
- Abu Dhabi T10, UAE (2017-present)
- European Cricket League (2019-present)
- Lanka T10 League, Sri Lanka (2023-present)
- The 6ixty, West Indies (2022, now defunct)
- Zim Afro T10 League, Zimbabwe and South Africa (2023-present)
- US Masters T10 League, USA (2023-present)
If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Sporting News has editorial oversight for this content. Learn more >