The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has invited bids for the franchise rights to the Sixth Team in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

New applicants have until December 18 to turn over their proposals to the PCB for the former Multan Sultans franchise.

The Sixth Team had come into existence after the PCB had terminated the franchise agreement with Multan Sultans’ owners for failure to meet financial obligations.

After terminating the agreement, the PCB had transferred all the rights of the Multan Sultans back to it itself and renamed the franchise the Sixth Team for the interim period.

The franchise had participated under the aegis of the Sixth Team at the recently concluded PSL player draft held in Islamabad. The franchise managed to secure the services of Australia batsman Steve Smith as a platinum category pick in the player draft.

During the PSL player draft, PCB chairman Ehsan Mani had revealed there was plenty of interest from potential new owners for the Sixth Team.

Mani stated that more than 10 parties had shown interest towards buying the rights. One of the interested parties could be Ali Khan, the son of former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Khan Tareen.

“I want to buy the team for the fourth edition of PSL and for this reason I have had two to three meetings with Pakistan Cricket Board officials in Lahore,” Ali was quoted as saying by Pakistan Today.

“I have completed the initial work for a tender for PSL 4,” he added.

The search for the Sixth Team’s new owners is expected to be concluded at the end of the month. The fourth edition of the PSL gets underway in the UAE on February 14, 2019.