Multan Sultans auction to take place on February 9 in Lahore

Pakistan Super League (PSL) has announced that Multan Sultans will be sold on February 9 in Lahore. The news came a day after the franchise released all its previous season players, thereby entering the player auction on February 11 with a full purse.

The change of Sultans’ fate

The Sultans have had a bumpy period after their previous owner, Ali Tareen, declined to renew the ownership contract for another ten years, unlike the rest of the franchisees. Tareen’s decision came on the back of several reasons, the most significant of which was his row with the PCB over the handling and management of the league, as well as the financial losses incurred by the franchise.

Following Tareen’s exit, the PCB announced that it would run the team in-house for this season and auction it before PSL 12. This is why Multan Sultans were not put up for auction along with the new franchises, Hyderabad and Sialkot, on January 8, as the board cited a short turnaround time after Tareen’s decision, leaving it with little time to fulfil legal requirements for auctioning the team.

Five qualified bids

However, soon after, the PCB backtracked on its decision and advertised for bids for Multan’s sale. This move is understood to have been influenced by the record-breaking prices for which the new franchises were sold.

Six bids were confirmed to have been submitted, out of which the PCB bid committee filtered five qualified bids. Tareen is also reportedly to have submitted a bid; however, it remains unclear if he is part of the qualified bidders.

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