Engro teams up with Quetta Gladiators for PSL

Engro Foods, one of the largest conglomerates of Pakistan, have become the official sponsors of Quetta Gladiators for the PSL-3 and the agreement in this regard was signed between the company’s President, Ghias Khan, and Nadeem Omar, the franchise owner, in a ceremony on February 8.

The tastefully decorated office of Quetta Gladiators, owned by Nadeem Omar’s Omar Associates (Pvt) Ltd, was buzzing with activity on a pleasant Karachi afternoon and the auditorium, the venue of the signing ceremony, was packed to capacity to witness the event.

“We are starting this partnership with very high hopes of making it a big one as we share a lot of common goals. We need the support of corporations and sponsoring partners to grow and become self-sustaining entity. Together we can achieve our mutual objective of putting Pakistan on top of the tree in the cricket world,” Nadeem Omar observed.

The Engro President, an ardent supporter of the game, described the Pakistan Super League (PSL) as a great initiative, having facilitated the return of international cricket to Pakistan. He was thrilling at teaming up with Quetta Gladiators, the only team to have reached both the PSL finals.

There was more good news for Quetta Gladiators as unlike the last edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), their foreign cricketers have agreed to play their matches of the upcoming PSL-3 being staged in Karachi and Lahore.


“With the sole exception of Kevin Pietersen, all the foreign players of our squad have expressed their

willingness to play in Pakistan this time round. Even the flamboyant England batsman (Pietersen) may come and play in our cities,” Nadeem Omar, owner of Quetta Gladiators, revealed in his speech on the occasion.

Besides Pietersen, the foreign cricketers in the Quetta Gladiators squad, being led by the Pakistan captain, Sarfraz Ahmed, are Shane Watson (Australia), Mahmudullah (Bangladesh), Jason Roy (England), Rilee Rossouw (South Africa), Carlos Brathwaite (West Indies) and Rashid Khan (Afghanistan).

It may be recalled that Quetta Gladiators were deprived of the services of their prolific overseas cricketers, who opted not to travel to Lahore, as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chose to move the PSL-2 final away from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the course of the tournament.

Having finished runners-up in both the editions of the PSL, Quetta Gladiators appear determined to make it third time lucky as the PSL-3 gets underway with the usual fanfare later this month.

“We were considered underdogs on both occasions but we turned it around with passion and team spirit and proved many people wrong by cruising into the final. Sadly we couldn’t win the title in the past but I am quite confident that our team will perform better than before to bring him the trophy,” Head Coach Moin Khan, himself a former Pakistan captain, remarked.

“In cricket you cannot guarantee results but one thing is sure that we are going to fight until the end. That’s what we have been doing in the past and will keep doing it as we maintain very relaxed atmosphere in our dugout with the emphasis being on team spirit rather than anything else,” he added.

Moin Khan reckoned that the PCB should appoint Sarfraz Ahmed as the captain of the national team until team until the 2019 World Cup which will be helpful in bringing to an end speculations and uncertainties.

“Just as Quetta Gladiators have announced that Sarfraz Ahmed will continue leading our team as long as he’s fit, the PCB would be advised to go for a long-term appointment in the larger national interest,” the former Pakistan captain added.

Race against time as NSK renovation gears up for PSL

It will be race against time as renovation and refurbishment work at the National Stadium Karachi (NSK) has geared up for holding the third edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL-3) in February 2018.

The country’s premier Test centre has been without proper international activity since 2009 although an invitation XI, featuring quite a few foreign cricketers, had played a couple of T20 games against Pakistan XI in 2012.

The Gaddafi Stadium Lahore has hosted a few international matches, including One-day and T20 series against Zimbabwe, last year’s PSL final, T20 series against World XI and recent one T20 against Sri Lanka.

The pressure was mounting on the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to restore international cricket in Karachi as well. The PCB Chairman, Najam Sethi, then announced that Karachi will host at least four matches in the PSL-3.

He also disclosed having tried his best to hold one World XI match in Karachi but the International Cricket Council (ICC) didn’t agree. He hoped that the NSK will be in line for hosting international matches in future after successfully staging its matches of the PSL-3.



Holders Islamabad United, runners-up Quetta Gladiators, Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars,
Peshawar Zalmi and the newly included Multan Sultan will take part in the PSL-3 which is likely to start from the middle of February and conclude with final on the Pakistan Day (March 23).

Meanwhile the National Logistic Cell (NLC) Engineering Department has been assigned the task to complete the first phase of the renovation work ahead of PSL matches.

The PCB had awarded a Rs. billion NSK up gradation work to NLC with NESPAK as its consultant. According to the contract, the work has to be completed in one year time. “We are determined and eager to complete the task of first phase within the allocated time,” Project Manager NLC Engineering, Wing Col (Rtd) Muhammad Sohaib, stated.

He said that they were using different work force for the purpose. It started with a work force of at the start and presently around 50-60 people were on the job “We use the work force as per our requirement,” he remarked.

A recent visit to NSK showed that all the 22 public bathrooms with 8 to 10 toilet blocks have already been dismantled while roof of the VIP stands including Hanif Mohammad and Javed Miandad enclosures has already been removed and this will follow in respect of other stands. 

The installation of 30 new hospitality boxes with attached bath rooms located technically on the fourth floor is also part of the first phase with installation of a modern lift for these boxes.

The chairman boxes with capacity of around 100 signatories, teams’ dressing rooms, umpires rooms, referee room, physiotherapist room, and broadcasters and media boxes will also be renovated and upgraded with modern facilities.

The 33,000 capacity stadium last staged a major international event of Asia Cup in 2008, a memorable event participated by holders Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The entrance of the stadium will also be improved and both the roads inside will be carpeted. Parking facilities for around 500 to 600 vehicles is also being created.