Provincial Minister for Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said that they are planning to organize Sindh Premier League soon.
He was speaking at the soft launch ceremony of the season 2 of Karachi Tapeball Premier League at a local hotel here the other day.
“This SPL is similar to Kashmir Premier League to give a boost to cricket and we are organizing a program soon in this regard,” said Nasir.
He said that they support KTPL at government level and to give due support to cricket the provincial government has cleared a number of playgrounds in the city that were illegally occupied.
“Now they are being used once again for sports activities. We still have many such grounds that can be used for establishing sports academies. We are ready to give these facilities to interested people for sports activities in the areas where there are no such facilities,” said Nasir.
Nasir said that the provincial government also started providing jobs and allowances to talented players of different sports and in this regard few players have been provided with jobs at Karachi Development Authority.
Zohair Naseer, the organizer of KTPL, in his speech said that with the support of cricket legends they have given a beautiful shape to an idea by making this unstructured sport of tape ball an organized activity.
“We are also in talks with the Cricket Council USA (CCUSA) to support our local players and soon they will endorse this program under which our local players can go to the USA to play this sport,” said Zohair.
He added that the huge success of KTPL has given us motivation to transform this in an international activity and they are planning to host a tapeball cricket world cup in 2024.
KTPL Javed Miandad in his speech said that this league is producing not only fresh talent in cricket but also grooming young players.
“We want to take this cricket in the interior parts of Sindh. I am available for this cause because there is lot of potential for this sport there,” said Miandad.
Former test cricketer Haroon Rasheed said that the season 2 of KTPL is featuring eight teams from different areas of the city will be held from July 16-31 at Asghar Ali Shah stadium.
He said the teams in the league are FB Fighters, Clifton Ghazi, DHA Dabang, Lyari Legends, North Nawab, Gulshan Gohar, Malir Malangs, and Johar Jawans. “Each team comprises ten players and the 12-over match is divided into two innings for each team. In this two-innings format each side will bat or ball twice,” said Haroon.
Haroon informed that the season 1 of the league offered the prize money of Rs 5 million while the matches were telecasted live worldwide on different media that were viewed by over 23 million people.
Commissioner Iqbal Memon said that KTPL aims to advance and foster the local sports within Karachi on international standards while this fast format league sets out additional opportunities for players and advances local cricket.
It is to be noted that the league was introduced in 2021 and President of Pakistan Dr. Arif Alvi launched the first edition in a grand ceremony held at the President House.
Javed Miandad is the president of the league while Haroon Rasheed, Tauseef Ahmed, and Sadiq Mohammad are the Senior Vice-Presidents.
The media partners of the league include B Sports, Badar Television Network (BTV), and Geo Sports for local distribution while Maq TV of the US handles international distribution.
The first edition of the league was covered by more than 30 social media channels and accomplished milestones of 300 million reach globally including countries like India, US, and Bangladesh.
The league of importance is managed by Badar Expo Solutions — a leading event management company in Pakistan with more than 12-years of remarkable experience in the field.
