After Ali Tareen owner of the Multan Sultans, a franchise in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), publicly ripped up a legal notice from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in a video that went viral, a major controversy has erupted between the two parties. The PCB had given a warning of the termination of his franchise contract if he did not take back his words and that he would be blacklisted if he failed to do so.
The matter was taken to the public by the party on Thursday after the information about the PCB sending the notice to Tareen demanding that he publicly take back his words became known. Tareen, who comes from a well-known family with a background in business and politics, had persistently doubting the truthfulness of the PCB statements regarding the financial success of the PSL and had accused them of mismanaging the league in his tweets and on different podcasts.
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On one of his podcast appearances, Tareen said that due to "incompetent management" the PSL had dropped down to the "fifth or sixth" position among worldwide franchise leagues.
Needless to say, Tareen did not keep silent after receiving the notice. There is a video that is now available on most social media platforms in which he, ridiculing the PCB and the PSL officials, reads an "apology" in a sarcastic manner, tears up the notice dramatically and says, "This is my apology." A lot of people on the internet have liked his response and have shown their support to him.
Considering the fact that he seems to be very adamant about not taking back his words, a confrontation between Tareen and the PCB in a court of law is implied by the silent suggestion of this episode.
According to the insiders' view, apart from the other reasons, the criticisims of Tareen against the Pakistan Cricket Board might be his linking of the comments with his plans. Probably those things are just a way through which he would lower down the PLN’s valuation of the next 10 years cycle. People close to the PCB say that the board was forced to issue the notice and that it cites violations of Tareen's franchise agreement as the reasons for his actions.
Tareen is the owner of the Multan Sultans, which is one of the most valuable franchises in the PSL. The annual fee he pays for the team is USD 6.35 million which is the highest among all six teams. In his statement, Tareen claimed that his franchise has invested about 7 billion Pakistani rupees in cricket-related activities of the PSL.
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