Noor Fatima Afzal, Daily Dawn, Dawn TV Report
Lahore: Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Multan Sultans’ owner Ali Tareen blew up the demand for an apology from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The young owner of Multan Sultans publicly ‘apologized’ on the PCB’s demand, but this raised fears that the matter would worsen further.
Ali Tareen sharply criticized the Pakistan Super League administration, saying that he was unhappy with their ‘average mindset’.
The PSL administration on Thursday took action after Ali Tareen repeatedly criticized the PCB and PSL, warning him that legal action would be taken if he did not publicly apologize.
The move is being seen as a significant escalation in the ongoing tension between the board and Multan Sultans.
Later, Ali Tareen released a video on the social media platform ‘X’, in which he was seen holding the alleged legal notice received from the PSL administration.
Ali Tareen, showing the PCB’s legal notice at the beginning of the video message, said, ‘Friends! The administration of our beloved PSL has sent me a legal notice, which states that if I do not withdraw the things I have said against the PSL administration and do not publicly apologize, they will cancel the Multan Sultans franchise agreement and blacklist me forever so that I can never take any team.’
Ali Tareen further said, “This is the problem that you do not want to work with your stakeholders, you just want us all to sit quietly and toe your line, you people have become so used to being midgets who say yes to yes that you cannot tolerate even a little criticism.”
He complained that to date he has not received a single call, a single message, an email or an invitation from the PCB in which the problems have been identified by him, and there has been talk of sitting together to solve them; on the contrary, he has been sent a legal notice straight away.
Ali Tareen said, “If you people had even a little bit of ability, you would have known that problems are not solved like this. If you think that I will be silenced by such threats, then this is your misunderstanding, because I love this league and I love it much more than you people, because this league belongs to us, to the fans, to the whole of Pakistan, what you two and a half people are running is not yours.”
He offered, “If you really want us to work on these problems, you call me, give me a cup of tea with two or three biscuits, let’s sit together and talk, decide that after today there will be no public criticism of this league, together we will make this league a top league.”
Ali Tareen said, “Because you have publicly demanded an apology, although my legal team is saying that there is no need for an apology, because we have done nothing wrong, but look, only a great person apologizes, so I apologize because I want the PSL to improve, I apologize because I raised my voice after seeing the problems, it is my fault that I am unhappy with your average mentality, it is my fault, not yours.”
Ali Tareen added sarcastically, “I apologize because I am unhappy that you people praise each other so much even for doing so little work, it is your choice to praise as much as you want, I also apologize for my desire that capable and qualified people come to the PSL administration, I know that this is a big deal, so this is impossible.”
He said that he also apologized for criticizing the magnificent opening ceremony of the PSL, in which national stars were brought to the stadium and made to lip-sing. Who listens to live music?
The owner of Multan Sultans added that ‘my courage to criticize the draft, because I wanted the ceremony to start on time and end on time, and the mics to work, this is a very big request that I should not have done’.
Ali Tareen also apologized for attending the Zoom meeting 10 minutes late. He said, ‘You were so hurt by it that you have also mentioned it in your legal notice; this is truly unforgivable’.
He said that he also admits his mistake in saying that the recent PSL was not the biggest, ‘I was absolutely wrong, you guys saw that there were lines outside the stadiums, every stadium was full, especially Karachi, how brilliantly you guys organized the tournament and the logistics were so great that half the team and players were in one hotel, support staff, analysts and coaches in another hotel, this is the best way of management, everyone should do this’.
He said that the training schedule and its facilities were also amazing, that only 6 teams complained about them, but 6 is too few.
Ali Tareen said ‘People are watching less on TV? Hey, who watches on TV? You were absolutely right, this was really the biggest league. He severely criticized the process of unveiling the trophy.
At the end of the video, he addressed the PSL administration and said, “So I apologize to you for making such wrong demands on you guys and
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