Multan Sultans urge organisers to award them PSL title

With the outcome of the fifth edition of the competition up in the air, the table-toppers believe they are the rightful champions

multan300301-min

Pakistan Super League table-toppers Multan Sultans insist they should be awarded the title from this year's fifth edition of the competition.

The semi-finals and final are yet to be played after the knock-out stage was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A window for the remaining three matches of the tournament has not yet been found but the Pakistan Cricket Board are understood to be targeting a resumption in November.

However, there are several complications not least whether the spread of the disease will have eased by that stage. It would allow mass gatherings to resume and overseas players to travel to Pakistan.

Sultans finished top of the table after the double round-robin, losing just two of their 10 matches to qualify for the knock-out phase for the first time.

Bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed believes that amid the uncertainty over whether the competition can be completed his side deserve to be crowned as champions.

"The PSL 5 has to have a proper closure and that can be done by taking into [account] the top team on the points table at the end of the league stage and declaring them winners," he told Press Trust of India. 

PSL 2020 TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT: Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Imran Tahir headline our picks of the competition

"If the PCB doesn't close the PSL 5 and tries to organise the remaining four or five matches including the final later this year or before the PSL 6 it will dent the hype and spoil the momentum of the next edition."

Playing the concluding three matches before next year's edition of the PSL has also been suggested, though that would create issues with the composition of squads.

"We are yet to have a conversation with the PSL management to assess if and when they can find a window to schedule the playoffs," Sultans owner Alamgir Tareen added.

"However, we do not see the rescheduling of the playoffs to be practical. If the PSL does identify a window for the playoffs in the later part of the year, who knows which players will be able to come and what the composition of the teams will be.

"Alternatively, if we set apart a week at the beginning of the next PSL and choose to play with newly drafted teams, it will be a part of PSL 6 more than a continuation of PSL 5."

Comments

LATEST NEWS

STAY UP TO DATE Sign up to our newsletter...
SIGN UP

Thank You! Thank you for subscribing!

Edinburgh House, 170 Kennington Lane, London, SE115DP

website@thecricketer.com

Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.