Grant Elliott not in favour of seventh team in PSL

New Zealand’s former all-rounder Grant Elliott, in an interview with PakPassion.net, spoke against the concept of the addition of another team in the Habib Bank Limited (HBL) Pakistan Super League (PSL) which currently consists of six teams.

The 40-year-old used the example of the Big Bash League (BBL) in Australia which extended the competition resulting in a longer tournament.

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“I do like the idea but what it will mean is that the competition goes on for longer and these competitions are good when they are three weeks, crash, bang and you have a winner. We’ve seen the Big Bash extend its competition and for me it felt like it went on for too long,” Elliot said.

The former all-rounder believed a longer tournament would result in the gradual loss of interest from the fans who are responsible for the success of any league.

“As a spectator you almost lose interest and you just wait for the semi-finals and final and then see what’s happening. So, I think you still need to keep people engaged and that’s obviously the revenue in there as well which is in that engagement, and where you are making sure the crowds are coming in,” he concluded.

Earlier, the HBL PSL Project Executive Shoaib Naveed has stated that there are no plans, currently, about adding another team to the country’s premier T20 league.

While talking in an exclusive interview with Cricket Pakistan, Naveed said that decision will be taken after assessing the appetite for PSL.

“We will take this decision after discussing it with franchises and assessing the appetite for additional teams in terms of fan experience and commercial perspective,” said Naveed. “Currently, we have no plans about adding another team in next edition of PSL.”

All 34 matches of HBL PSL 5 are currently being played across four international venues of the country, Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi.