LAHORE: Stressing that merit will be given top priority in team selection, new Pakistan Super League side Sialkot owner Hamza Majeed on Saturday said his franchise will look to select the best players from Pakistan and then Australia.
“There will be no ‘Parchi’ system in our team, decisions will be taken on merit and our first priority will be to pick the best players from the current Pakistan team and then give preference to Australian players. (Moreover) Australian coaches have the best talents, and if we cannot find the best coach from Pakistan, we will look for the best from Australia,” Hamza, owner of OZ Group, said in his first press conference after purchasing the team from Sialkot at the Lahore Sports Journalists Association office at the National Hockey Stadium.
Hamza, who owns a business in Australia, bought the Sialkot franchise for a whopping Rs 1.85 billion at a glitzy auction of PSL teams in Islamabad on Thursday.
Responding to a question regarding his team’s objective in their first appearance in the upcoming PSL 11 which begins at the end of March, Hamza seemed adamant.
“We joined the PSL to win it, and we are developing a comprehensive plan to (achieve) that goal.”
Responding to a question on whether he was worried about making profits after buying the franchise at a high price, Hamza said: “Profits and losses aside, overall the (PSL) auction presented a positive image of Pakistan in the international market and among the country’s diaspora.
After the addition of two new teams – Hyderabad and Sialkot – the total number of participating teams in the PSL has reached eight, thereby increasing the profit level from the Rs 5 billion reportedly earned by the six franchises in 2023.
The Hyderabad team was bought by SKF, a US-based franchise, for Rs 1.75 billion.
Interestingly, there is a big difference between the prices of Sialkot and Hyderabad and that of Quetta Gladiators, which is the cheapest PSL franchise retained by its owner at just Rs 360 million.
However, all eight franchises will receive an equal share of the 95 percent of the total revenue they receive from the central revenue pool at the end of the event. The remaining five percent will go to the PCB account.
The entire amount to be received from the eight franchisees, estimated at Rs6.5 billion, will also go to PCB’s account.
On whether his Sialkot team will miss its original venue – Jinnah Stadium – like teams from Quetta and Peshawar Zalmi during PSL matches, Hamza said the revival of Jinnah Stadium would be the priority of the PCB and its franchisee.
The second ground in Sialkot would be Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.
“It is regrettable that the Jinnah Stadium, which has hosted several international matches in the past, has turned into a desert,” he lamented.
When asked what made him choose Sialkot as his franchise, Hamza said that Allama Iqbal, the poet of the East, was born in Sialkot and that was one of the major factors that made him choose this city.
Besides, he said, Sialkot had produced world-class cricketers for Pakistan, including the great Zaheer Abbas. “Our franchise would love for him to be with us and play a (proper) role for our team.”
In response to a question, Hamza said they would consider ‘Sialkot Shaheens’ as the name of their franchise, “because Iqbal’s poetry contains special messages for the youth whom he called Shaheen”.
Published in Dawn, January 11, 2026
