Quetta Gladiators want Viv Richards to mentor PSL team

By: Faizan Lakhani

KARACHI: Pakistan Super League (PSL) team Quetta Gladiators have contacted West Indies great Sir Vivian Richards for the role of team mentor.

“Yes, we are in talks with Viv (Richards),” said Nadeem Omar, owner of PSL franchise Quetta Gladiators in an interview with Geo.tv.

“Talks are in final stages and an announcement in this regard will be made soon,” he added.

Sir Vivian Richards have played 121 Tests and 187 ODIs, scoring 8,540 and 6,721 runs respectively.

“Richards is a great name, he’s the best choice for us to have as team Quetta’s mentor,” Omar added.

Nadeem said that they’ll use the franchise to put Quetta and Balochistan on global cricketing map, by giving confidence to fans and players of the region.

“When you’ll bring people of Quetta to limelight then things will improve. Our aim at the moment is to put Quetta on cricketing map,” Omar said.

“I believe that the city and the province need morale boost up and we’ll use Quetta Gladiators to highlight this city as top power in cricketing world.

There’s no dearth of talent in Balochistan. We’ll do our best to unearth the talent and transform it into match winners.”

Replying to a question, Omar said there were limited options for franchises to pick players from Balochistan.

“We had two players from Quetta, one was Bismillah and one was Asghar. We could avail only one of them so we have Bismillah Khan in our squad,” Omar added.

Nadeem Omar added that Quetta Gladiators will work with PCB to rebuilt cricketing infrastructure in the region.

“Stadiums in Balochistan are not in good shape, we need to rebuilt them, specially the one in Quetta which is in very bad shape, we have contacted PCB for rebuilding the infrastructure there,” he said.

“There is one stadium in Hub, which is comparatively better,” he added.

Nadeem Omar asserted that schools, colleges and universities in Balochistan will be transformed into fan-parks during Quetta gladiators’ matches in Pakistan Super League.

“We’ll do live streaming of all Quetta matches during PSL in schools, colleges and universities of Balochistan, so that fans can get fully involved and are taken on-board,” he said.

Nadeem said that the team will soon have a launching ceremony in Quetta followed by a car rally from Gwadar to Quetta to develop the team’s identity in the region.