Pakistan cricket authorities were Tuesday forced to cancel their ambitious Twenty20 league project due a lack of time to schedule the tournament ahead of the World Cup, leaving question marks over its future.

Pakistan Cricket Board had planned to hold the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in the UAE in January next year based on the lines of the lucrative Indian Premier League – which the UAE played host to the early stages of this year – and Australia's Big Bash in an attempt to recoup huge financial losses.

The losses were incurred after Pakistan failed to stage any international cricket following a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009.

The PSL was also cancelled last year due to logistical problems.

The PCB said time constraints ahead of next year's World Cup – in Australia and New Zealand in February-March – forced the decision.

"The PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan met the bidders of the PSL and explained them as to why it had become extremely difficult to organise the PSL and among the reasons behind taking this decision was the paucity of lead time," said a PCB release.

Khan said the board was committed to holding the event in the future, it added. The PCB last year said it had expected to raise $100 million from the T20 league.

Former players had also criticised the ambitious project, saying it was not possible for the PCB to stage such an event with top players busy in international cricket and would demand a huge amount of money from the PCB.