Pakistan Cricket Board announced Doha, Qatar, as the venue for the first edition of the Pakistan Super League, slated to take place from 4th to 24th February 2016. Mr. Najam Sethi, Chairman of the PSL Governing Council and the PCB Executive Committee, made this announcement in a press conference here at the Gaddafi Stadium.

“The wait is now over and we are here to tell you of our intent to stage the PSL. The way we see it, PSL is not just about cricket. It is a unique blend of entertainment and cricket which will be the most exciting Pakistani product,” said Mr. Sethi.

After extensive negotiations with various stakeholders, the PSL Governing Council has decided to lock Doha as its preferred location for the tournament. The 5-team tournament will take place in February next year with a total of 24 matches scheduled to take place in the first edition. “We are starting with 5 teams in order to build the value of our franchises and we will expand the number of teams in the coming editions,” said Mr. Sethi. 

Top foreign players from all test-playing nations except India have expressed interest in signing up for the PSL. As of now, the PSL team has consent from over 40 international players. In addition, top foreign coaches are also being roped in for the first edition of the PSL. The tournament will carry collective prize money of up to $ 1 million.

Mr. Najam Sethi also informed the press about the interest of potential commercial stakeholders in the league. “I can confirm that a number of parties are currently talking to us and are interested in picking up the franchises. Similarly, we have great interest being shown from broadcasters and sponsors,” stated Mr. Sethi. 

In line with the tournament commercial plan, rights for broadcast, sponsorship, and franchise ownership will be sold over the next three months. With the event venue locked, the formal PSL launch will take place in Lahore in the third week of September.

Senior Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal has said that he is ready to retire from international cricket if the Pakistan cricket authorities tell him clearly he is no longer a part of their plans.

"I have always played on merit and my performances but if the Pakistan cricket board feels I can't play for the national team anymore, I would request them to let me know so that I can than retire gracefully and with self-respect", Ajmal told.

"The PCB has also done a lot for me and supported me in my testing times all I want is a clear picture where I stand," an angry Ajmal said. Ajmal, 37, faces an uphill task to revive his international career after the national selectors have indicated they are not happy with his performances for English county Worcestershire this season.

The selectors have said that they would like to test him out at the national cricket academy when he returns to Pakistan.

Ajmal was forced to modify his bowling action last year after he was banned from bowling by the ICC in September after which he underwent remedial work on his action.

He made a brief comeback to the Pakistan team on their tour to Bangladesh last April but failed to impress in either the ODI or T20 matches after which he was dropped from the national squad and went to England to play county cricket.

"I have never forced anyone to select me in the Pakistan team. If I perform well and impress the selectors fine if they are not convinced, it is not a problem for me," Ajmal said.

"I have always played my cricket with self-respect and pride and all I want is a proper chance to announce my retirement and thank all my well wishes and supporters," Ajmal said. Ajmal was Pakistan's leading wicket taker in all three formats between 2009 and 2014 taking 178 test, 184 ODI and 85 T20 international wickets.

"If they want to test me out again at the NCA I am also ready for that. I am coming back to play in the national T20 championship main rounds and the selectors and people can decide whether I have improved as a bowler with my modified action or not," he said. Ajmal said he had gained a lot of confidence bowling with his new action in England.

"When I played against Bangladesh, I was still experimenting with my action but now things are different and I don't think my career is over. I know I can still play a while for my country," he stated.

In September 2014, when Pakistan lost the services of its premier spin bowler Saeed Ajmal, there weren’t many in the know who gave the thirty-six year old a chance to resurrect his international career. But perhaps they under-estimated the inner strength of the bowler who was Pakistan’s best attack weapon for almost six years. In the process, he picked up an astounding 447 wickets whilst playing 35 Tests, 113 ODIs and 64 T20Is, thus earmarking him for future greatness. Indeed, from November 2011 to December 2014, Ajmal was ranked by the International Cricket Council as the number one bowler in ODIs although with a ban on his bowling due to an illegal action, the writing seemed very well on the wall for the jovial and likeable Ajmal.

Undeterred by setbacks, Ajmal went to work to correct his action and his efforts were rewarded in February, 2015 when the ICC removed the ban on his bowling, thus making him eligible yet to play for Pakistan. Unfortunately, Ajmal’s much anticipated comeback series against Bangladesh in April 2015 did not yield favorable results and he has since remained out of favour with the Pakistan selectors. Ajmal then turned to county cricket in the summer of 2015 to try and regain some of his lost magic where he will shortly complete his stint with Worcestershire.

Worcestershire contract

“There was no sacking or early termination of my contract as some media are reporting. My contract with Worcestershire is until 4th September as I will be leaving for Hajj the day after I return to Pakistan next week. Worcestershire had wanted me to play for them for the whole season but I had decided and agreed with Worcestershire prior to signing the contract this season that I wouldn't be able to play the whole season and would return to Pakistan prior to the end of the season.”


The last few months

"The last few months have been a tough and difficult phase of my cricketing career and obviously I've not been as successful for Worcestershire this season, but overall I'm satisfied with how things have gone this season and I'm quite happy with my comeback into first-class cricket after the ban. I'm feeling positive and I've given my 100% effort to Worcestershire as I always have and hope that I will get the opportunity to play for them in future. They are a fantastic club and it's always an honour to play for them."


The continued improvement of my bowling action

“Worcestershire's Director of Cricket Steve Rhodes and biomechanics expert Paul Hurrion have been happy with the improvement I have shown with my bowling action since my return and that is heartening and goes well for the future.”


Aspirations to play again for Pakistan 

"I'm looking forward to playing once again in the upcoming domestic cricket season in Pakistan and I'm ready to take on the challenge of regaining my place in the Pakistan team. I'm confident that I can perform well again in domestic cricket in Pakistan and make a comeback for my country and prove my critics wrong. It would be great to play for Pakistan again as international cricket is the pinnacle for any cricketer. I feel that I'm not a spent force when it comes to international cricket and as a bowler I still have something to offer my country."


Intentions to play in the Pakistan Super League and possibility of playing in other T20 leagues round the world.

"I'm also looking forward to playing in the Pakistan Super League which is an exciting venture and one that we are all looking forward to. There are a number of twenty20 leagues around the world and it's great news that the Pakistan Cricket Board is launching the PSL. As well as the PSL I'm available to play in leagues around the world and I'm in talks with one of the franchises in the Bangladesh Premier League."

Pakistan will tour New Zealand in January 2016 to play 3 T20Is and 3 ODIs between 15 and 31 January. Here is the complete schedule of the series:-

Pakistani batsman Sohaib Maqsood is likely to be included in the ODI Squad for the upcoming series against Zimbabwe in September. Sohaib last played an ODI in the World Cup 2015 Quarter Final against Australia which Pakistan Lost. Sohaib was ruled out of the team due to an injury which affected his fitness. Sohaib has so far no impressed with the bat in ODIs and T2Os and will be looking to improve his career stats when Pakistan tour Zimbabwe in September. Sohaib Maqsood will most likely to fight his place in the squad against Mohammad Rizwan who is also very talented. We wish Sohaib the best!

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan has said Pakistan 'can survive' without playing cricket against India but hoped the BCCI would adhere to the MOU between the boards and improve the prospects of bilateral series in the future.

"Given the present circumstance, the chances of a Pakistan-India series look bleak and we have to live with the fact that India are not going to play us," Shaharyar told ESPNcricinfo. "At the same time the BCCI hasn't formally refused us, but we can't wait long amid this uncertainty and have got to have an alternative plan. We will wait for another couple of months before forcing our plan B.

"I hope the climate will improve but at the moment it's more a political tension … the relationship between the countries is complex but cricket shouldn't be suffering, it is after all something that can be a tool to lower the tension."

The BCCI had signed an MOU to play Pakistan in six series between 2015 and 2023, with the first to be hosted by the PCB in the UAE in December. As it has often done in the past - India and Pakistan did not play for 17 years because of the wars in 1965 and 71 - the strained political relationship between the countries put the series in doubt. The last full series was in 2007, when Pakistan toured India.

Bilateral ties between the two countries were snapped after the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 until a limited-overs series was played in 2012-13, though India and Pakistan have faced each other in international tournaments. India's refusal to play Pakistan in recent years has cost the PCB over $80 million in terms of broadcasting and other commercial deals.

"We understand the BCCI is financially very sound and we are the ones who have suffered a lot in all this," Shaharyar said. "It's not that we can't survive without playing them. We are surviving, and can survive, but our position is that the game shouldn't be mixed up with the politics. So we are trying to get the series revived based on the MOU they have signed with us. They have to honour it and if they don't it's their responsibility."

Another divisive issue in the PCB is that there are two people seen to be running the board - Shaharyar and Najam Sethi. The executive committee is led by Sethi and includes the board's chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed and chief financial officer Badar Khan. It was formed in line with new ICC guidelines, and though its role was not defined in the PCB's constitution, the committee is understood to be holding the majority of power in the board.

Two power centers in the PCB, and friction between new and old officials, are major concerns. The proposed Pakistan Super League has exacerbated the issue because it has a different team of employees.

Sethi was removed as the PCB's interim chairman by the courts - he had to give an undertaking that he would not contest elections for chairman, only then did the legal feud with Zaka Ashraf end - but later the country's Prime Minister installed him as a direct nominee in the governing board. He then became the head of the three-man executive committee.

"There is no division in the board," Shaharyar said, when asked about Sethi's role in the PCB. "He is the nominee of the Patron of the Board and heads the executive committee. I am the chairman and all the decision are taken by me and it's my discretion to approve or not to approve. There is no interference politically and I don't think that the Prime Minister or any other minister is trying to dictate to the Board. We are working independently.

"He [Najam] has his own views and I respect them but we are all on the same line. I am an elected chairman and that is one important thing. If I am elected, naturally the weight of my position is much higher than being a nominee."

Pakistan's domestic cricket structure has been a major talking point because of its inconsistent format over the years. The change this year is the third in the last four years, but according to Shaharyar the latest change is best for the long term.

"Basically the idea is to reduce the number of teams … you got to understand that 24 teams in domestic cricket is too many," he said. "The number is higher than in other cricketing playing countries. So there was a strong feeling that this pattern was lowering the standard in domestic cricket with teams not being able to be a proper feeder to the national team."

Though Shaharyar was optimistic about the latest format he feared the board may alter it in the future. "We have discussed with every stakeholder of the game and almost every one decided in favour of 16-team format. This format is locked down for next three years until this present governing board is in house. I don't know what is going to be done after me but I can assure that we have finally found a format, which I think is the right formula."

It's been five years since the spot-fixing controversy during the 2010 tour of England - Salman Butt, Mohammd Asif and Mohammad Amir were only recently allowed to return to competitive cricket by the ICC - but Shaharyar said corruption was still a danger to Pakistan cricket. "It's not entirely eradicated but we are very vigilant about it. We have maintained zero tolerance towards the corruption and we will not afford to have another such incident again."

Shoaib Malik is a Pakistani player cricket player and he has been around the international circuit for quite alot of time. He has also remianed the captain of the ODI team for some time. He has batted at every position from No.1 to No.11. But in all his years, he hasn't impressed with the bat and neither with the ball and age might finally be showing up on Shoaib Malik. In the last night's T20 against Zimabawe at Lahore, he made 7 runs form 14 balls which is not acceptable. He has always done this in T20s, that is, he absorbs the first 10 balls for blocking and then tries to finish the match and be a hero by trying to hit sixes but he always gets out. I have never seen him bat with a strike rate above 110. He has played 56 innings and made 983 runs at a strike rate of 105. He is neither a good batsman nor he is a good bowler. The selectors have made the wrong decision of again putting him in the pakistani squad.  I think that it is time for Shoaib Malik to retire from all forms of international cricket because is just a burden on the team and his retirement will pave way for extraordinary talents like Nauman Anwar and Mohammad Rizwan.