Shoaib Akhtar offers to buyout PSL's Lahore franchise, claims 'current owners not serious'

With Lahore Qalandars failing to qualify for the Pakistan Super League (PSL) playoffs, former pacer Shoaib Akhtar has offered to take over the franchise with a promise of bettering the team and helping it clinch the T20 title. Akhtar, who has often criticised Pakistan national team's management as well and has offered to take up leadership roles in the PCB, feels that the team management of Lahore Qalandars 'aren't serious about cricket'. After having ended the PSL as runners-up last year, Qalandars had a terrible outing t his year around when the PSL 2021 had to be shifted out to UAE after being suspended initially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

'Will rename it Lahore Express'

Claiming that owners of the franchise are wasting the brand value of Lahore, Akhtar said that he would rename the franchise to 'Lahore Express' if he takes over. However, he revealed that the owners are not ready to sell the franchise yet. 

“I told Rana brothers to sell me your team I’ll rename it as Lahore express and change the management. These owners and management aren’t serious about cricket, they are wasting the Lahore brand,” said Akhtar, as reported by Crickwick.

Despite having some bigwigs in their arsenal Qalandars lost four matches on the trot and are out of the high-octane tournament which is being held in the UAE. These include the likes of Afghan's lethal spinner Rashid Khan, veteran batter Mohammad Hafeez, and Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman. 

In their last game, which turned out to be a thriller, Karachi Kings held their nerve to hold off a late surge by Lahore Qalanders to win a Pakistan Super League thriller by seven runs in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. Babar Azam's 54 helped Karachi to an imposing 176 for 5 in their 20 overs with Lahore falling just short despite some late hitting by Tim David and James Faulkner as Afghan 16 year-old spinner Noor Ahmad took two wickets. Lahore Qalandars looked like prime candidates for a top 4 finish but came down after losing four games in a row in the UAE. With five wins and five losses, the team had 10 points to their name. As they lost against Karachi as well, the Qalandars hoped for the Kings to lose their remaining game or do not end with a net run rate better than theirs, either of which did not happen.