Pakistan’s professional T20 league – Pakistan Junior League contested by U19 teams representing different cities of Pakistan has been dissolved after the first edition cost INR 1 billion and caused losses of USD 4 million.
PCB Discontinue Pakistan Junior League
The league was soft-launched on 14 April 2022 by the then Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman, Ramiz Raja.
After the news broke out, Raja lashed out at the PCB and called it ‘vendetta politics’. “It is so sad that PJL has fallen to vendetta politics and rolled back even though 7 of the kids made it to PSL 8 emerging category and 3 are part of Pak vs NZ as reserves”, he wrote on Twitter.
Reacting to Raja’s tweet, one user questioned Raja about the huge player salaries in the league. He commented, “it was a great idea, but do you not think paying USD 22,000 to u19 kids is too much? I think PJL should still be played, but we can manage the costs better.”
Reacting to the comment, Shamyl Hussain, Gwadar Sharks captain, revealed that the players never got paid. “We never got paid haroon bhai”, he quipped with laughing emoticons.
Fans couldn’t believe Shamyl’s reply and reacted with disbelief. One user wrote, “What? No Way.”
We never got paid haroon bhai 🤣🤣🤣
— Shamyl Hussain (@shamylhussain09) December 31, 2022
In August 2022, PCB announced the names of the six teams for the inaugural edition of the Pakistan Junior League, each representing one city of Pakistan. These names were different from those used by the teams of the Pakistan Super League.
Draft for the league was held on September 2022 where 24 foreign players from nine different countries were selected by teams along with 66 local players.
Although the PCB had initially had planned a franchise model similar to that of PSL, it decided to take up the ownership of the teams itself after the base price set up for the ownership of teams was not met by the bidders
After deciding to discontinue PJL, the PCB will be reviving the junior series on a home-and-away basis to help with a pathway for high-performing teenagers. They will also be asking PSL teams to have a U-19 player in their Emerging Player Category in the playing XIs.
Since his exit as PCB boss, Raja has found himself in controversy and alleged that he was not allowed to take his belongings from the office. He also called his exit as ‘political victimisation’, followed by the PCB threatening to take legal action.
Ramiz Raja Reacts
On the other hand, Ramiz Raja reacted via tweet that PJL has fallen to the vendetta politics despite seven players making it to the PSL 8 emerging category and three being part of the New Zealand Test series as reserves.
“All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them.” – Magic Johnson. It is so sad that PJL has fallen to vendetta politics & rolled back even though 7 of the kids made it to PSL 8 emerging category & 3 are part of Pak vs NZ as reserves.
— Ramiz Raja (@iramizraja) December 31, 2022
