Pakistan Likely to Be Excluded from Inaugural World Club T20 Championship: Reports
PSL champions may miss out on high-profile ICC-backed tournament due to PCB’s absence from key meeting
Pakistan is reportedly set to miss out on participation in the inaugural World Club T20 Championship, a high-profile franchise tournament expected to debut next year under the patronage of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and its chairman, Jay Shah.
According to sources familiar with the development, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) champions are unlikely to be invited to the tournament, primarily due to the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) absence from a pivotal meeting held last month in London on the sidelines of the Cricket Connect Summit.
“The PCB was invited to send the PSL CEO to the meeting, but no one showed up,” a source confirmed.
The meeting was convened by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) with support from the ICC and was attended by key stakeholders from several major franchise-based T20 leagues. These included representatives from Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL), South Africa’s SA20, England’s The Hundred, the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), USA’s Major League Cricket (MLC), and the UAE’s ILT20.
The purpose of the gathering was to discuss the operational structure, scheduling, and format of the proposed tournament, which is designed to become a global showcase for top-performing franchise teams.
In a notable development, the source added that no Indian Premier League (IPL) teams will participate in the tournament’s first edition, despite support from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“Though the planned event has the backing of the Indian board, there will be no IPL participation in the inaugural championship,” the source stated.
The urgency to launch the World Club T20 Championship is widely seen as a strategic move to counter the emergence of a Saudi Arabia-backed T20 league, which is reportedly planning to invest over $400 million to attract elite international talent.
The new championship is expected to mirror the format of the now-defunct Champions League T20 (CLT20), which brought together top T20 teams from various domestic leagues between 2009 and 2015. While the CLT20 initially drew excitement, it struggled with viewership and sponsorship challenges and was eventually discontinued—despite strong performances from IPL franchises such as Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, both of whom claimed two titles each.
The landscape of franchise T20 cricket has shifted significantly in recent years. Nearly every major cricketing nation now operates its own league, contributing to a crowded and competitive calendar. Nations such as India, Pakistan, Australia, South Africa, England, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, the UAE, and the USA all host thriving tournaments.
Among the newest entrants to the T20 circuit is the United States, which launched Major League Cricket (MLC) in 2023, and Guyana, which has introduced the Global T20 Super League. This league features teams from a mix of established and emerging tournaments, including the Guyana Amazon Warriors (CPL), Rangpur Riders (BPL), Lahore Qalandars (PSL), Hampshire (Vitality Blast), and Victoria (Australia).
For now, Pakistan’s exclusion from the World Club T20 Championship underscores a missed opportunity for the PSL to assert its global standing. Whether the PCB can rectify the situation in time for future editions remains to be seen, but for the inaugural event, it appears the PSL will be watching from the sidelines.
