Aakash Chopra gives befitting reply to Ramiz Raza over his bold claims of players preferring PSL over Indian T20 League
Ramiz Raja-Akash Chopra (Image source: Twitter)
Ramiz Raja is currently the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Recently, he made big claims about the Pakistan T20 League attracting the biggest players, and them preferring PSL over Indian T20 League. PSL currently follows a draft system for the recruitment of players. PCB Chairman recently said that they are thinking of shifting from the draft system to the very popular auction system of the Indian T20 League. He feels that as the PSL shifts to the auction system, more and more players will start choosing the league over the Indian T20 League.
To quote Ramiz Raja’s statement – “If we take the PSL to auction model, increase the purse, then I’ll put in the ITL bracket. And then we’ll see who goes to play the ITL over the PSL.”
Former Indian opener and cricket analyst Akash Chopra could not digest the tall claims of Ramiz Raja. He did not shy away from giving a reply to Raja. Akash Chopra explained why auction system in PSL cannot be a success. “Even if you do an auction instead of drafts, it is not going to happen, you will not see a player for 16 Crores in the PTL. It cannot happen at all, market dynamics are not going to allow that to happen, its as simple as that,”- on his YouTube channel.
“To be very honest, Chris Morris’ one ball, when he played last time, was more expensive than the players’ salary in other leagues. Is it even possible to compete or compare yourself with the ITL, whether it is PTL, ATL, The Hundred or the CTL? Isn’t it a slightly misplaced judgment?”- Chopra further added.
If the amount of money involved in the two leagues is taken into account, there stands no comparison between PSL and ITL. While the highest-paid player for the Indian T20 League 2022 is Ishan Kishan, priced at INR 15.25 Cr, the salary for the highest bracket of players in the PSL is INR 98 Lakhs. This reveals the big gap that the Pakistan T20 League has to fill in order to make professionals choose PSL over ITL.
