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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi has expressed confidence in Multan Sultans’ financial prospects, stating that he wants to run the outfit for at least a year to prove it is a profitable venture.
Earlier today, PSL officially expanded ahead of season 11 in a historic auction, with Hyderabad and Sialkot confirmed as the two new franchises following a high-stakes auction held at the Jinnah Convention Centre in Islamabad.
The two teams will make their debut in PSL season 11, joining the existing six franchises: Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars, Peshawar Zalmi, Quetta Gladiators, Islamabad United, and Multan Sultans.
However, Former Multan Sultans owner Ali Tareen decided to sit out the auction for two new PSL franchises.
Tareen, whose group was notably absent from the list of 10 qualified bidders, took to X (formerly Twitter) to clarify the move, emphasizing the emotional connection his family shared with the Multan Sultans franchise.
“After careful consideration, my family and I have decided not to participate in today’s PSL franchise auction,” Tareen wrote.
“Our time with Multan Sultans was never just about owning a cricket team. It was about South Punjab. About giving a voice to a region that had been overlooked for too long. That’s what drove everything we built.”
Speaking at a press conference alongside the new team owners after the auction, Mohsin reflected on the challenge of managing Multan Sultans.
He hinted at skepticism about the team’s finances, noting that management aimed to demonstrate the league’s commercial potential ahead of the auction.
“I took a challenge, and that is that there were a lot of claims on social media that the team was in losses. So I, and all of the team, decided that we will show you how much profit this business offers, publish the numbers before going for the auction,” Naqvi stated.
Naqvi added that while there is external pressure and speculation about the future of the team, his focus remains on running the Sultans for at least a year and proving that it can be a profitable venture.
“The pressure has started to be built up on me to sell out the team,” he said in a light-hearted manner while referring to Naseer.
“But my wish is to operate Multan Sultans for one year, and I’m very much hopeful that we would leave it in profit so the world gets to know that it’s a plus-plus business.”
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