LAHORE: Wali Technologies owner Ahsan Tahir on Monday announced the renaming of Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Multan Sultans to Rawalpindi.
Following a bidding war, Wally Technologies was awarded a whopping Rs. The announcement came after the owner bought the franchise for 2.45 billion, most notably CD Ventures, which submitted the second highest bid but was eventually forced to bow out.
Notably, the winning party was allowed to rename the franchise and their owner, Ahsan Tahir, decided to exercise the franchise and announced that the franchise would be named after Rawalpindi.
However, the renaming of the franchise will be completed following the approval of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Naqvi, who later indicated in a press conference that he accepted the plan, despite expressing dismay at the existing Multan Sultans “brand”.
“I have affection for Multan Sultans. When he (Ahsan) announced to change the name of the city, I was saddened because it is our brand and we will definitely think about its future now,” Naqvi said at a press conference with the new team owners.
“But it is not possible to advise someone who spends Rs 2.45 billion to keep or release Multan Sultans. I cannot do anything,” he added.
However, the PCB chairman assured the fans that they will deliberate on the future of the Multan Sultans brand, which he described as very close to his heart.
Naqvi added that when the management decided to auction the franchise, there were mixed opinions on its renaming, which grew in favor due to the recent damage.
“Initially, the plan was to run Multan Sultans for one year, but acknowledging the market environment (…) we decided to auction it, but at that time the idea was to give (the winning bidders) the option (to rename),” shared Naqvi.
“There were two different opinions, one was ‘Multan Sultans is our established brand’ and the second was ‘Multan Sultans brand is damaged’, but for me, Multan Sultans is very close to my heart and will think of something.”