Islamabad
\nMultan Sultans owner Ali Tareen on Tuesday confirmed that he will not renew the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise contract.
\nTareen, in a statement on X, highlighted repeated financial losses during his time with the franchise before confirming that he would not be renewing the ownership contract for the 2021 champions, stating that he would \u201crather lose his team while standing on my feet than run it from my knees\u201d.
\nAll other owners of the five franchise \u2014 Lahore Qalandars, Islamabad United, Quetta Gladiators, Peshawar Zalmi, and Karachi Kings \u2014 have extended their contracts for another 10 years.
\n\u201cBeing part of this team has been one of the greatest honours of my life. I love the fans, I love this team, and I absolutely love being able to represent South Punjab. Something my late uncle Alamgir Tareen was especially proud of,\u201d Tareen stated.
\n\u201cEvery season, I would tell our players and staff what it means to represent this region: a place full of people who work hard, fight for their rights, and push through challenges every single day,\u201d Tareen said.
\n\u201cI told them that the fans will forgive you if you lose, but they will never forgive you if you stop fighting. That mindset has shaped everything we have done, both on and off the field.
\n\u201cDespite the financial losses year after year, I never once thought about walking away. The Sultans have always meant more to me than just numbers. And I have always been willing to go as far as needed to protect it.
\n\u201cI know I\u2019m not everyone\u2019s cup of tea, and I\u2019m okay with that. But I have always been honest, and I have always spoken my mind. I never learned how to play it safe or just play along. That simply isn\u2019t who I am. And if staying means compromising those principles, there is only one choice I can make.
\n\u201cI would rather lose this team while standing on my feet than run it from my knees.
\n\u201cSo, this is goodbye. Please know that this team has always been much more than its owner. It belongs to you and to South Punjab. So whoever takes control of the Sultans next, please keep supporting them with the same passion. You can count on me to be in the stands supporting them, too.\u201d
\nThe Sultans\u2019 owner had been at odds with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the PSL management since earlier this year. He had, a few months back, made a startling revelation regarding the venue saga of the players\u2019 draft for the 10th edition of the tournament.
\nHe then expressed his disapproval of PSL 10 anthem artist selection, calling the singer a \u2018same middle-aged dude\u2019.
\nTareen then hinted at rebidding for Multan Sultans after the landmark edition instead of renewing the contract before eventually challenging PCB\u2019s claim of terming the recent 10th season the \u2018best ever\u2019 of the marquee league.
\nIn response to his recent remarks, the PCB served a notice to the franchise over the violation of several clauses listed in the 10-year contract. The insiders had suggested that the franchise was at risk of the revocation of its contract with the league, while its owner may get blacklist if it fails to respond satisfactorily.
\nIn response, the Sultans issued a public statement, claiming that the cricket board demanded that its owner, Tareen, \u201cretract all recent critical statements and issue a public apology to the PSL management\u201d.
\nHours later, Tareen also delivered a sharply sarcastic rebuttal, criticising the PSL\u2019s management while ostensibly complying with the demand for an apology.
\nThe video concluded with Tareen tearing up the legal notice, a final act of defiance following his \u201capology.\u201d He ended his statement with, \u201cSo, I hope you like my apology video.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad Multan Sultans owner Ali Tareen on Tuesday confirmed that he will not renew the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise contract. Tareen, in a statement on X, highlighted repeated financial losses during his time with the franchise before confirming that he would not be renewing the ownership contract for the 2021 champions, stating that he …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":90142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90128"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90146,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90128\/revisions\/90146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}