Multan Sultans owner Gohar Shah said in an online interaction that opener Sahibzada Farhan was an 'accidental pick' by the franchise for the latest PSL season.
Multan Sultans owner: Sahibzada Farhan was not in the franchise's plans initially
On Sunday evening, former Multan Sultans owner Ali Khan Tareen praised the team's current opening duo of Farhan and Steve Smith, thanking Kamil Khan for signing them. Kamil was the owner of the Sialkot Stallionz, the franchise that assembled the current squad at the auction table in February before ownership swiftly changed hands to Gohar Shah, who renamed it the Multan Sultans.
Read more: Explained: Why new PSL franchise Sialkot Stallionz has fresh ownership within two months
Gohar replied to Tareen's post with the words "Fake news", before going on to list the members of staff behind several signings for Multan. He attributed five signings to current head coach Tim Paine, including that of Smith; essentially to show that Kamil was not the one responsible for assembling the squad.
When it came to Farhan's signing, Gohar wrote, "Accidental pick, Hassan [Cheema] was trying to raise the price for Islamabad to impact their other picks and purse. Was not in SS (Sialkot Stallionz) plans originally."
Cheema was with the Stallionz think-tank at the auction, having previously worked with Islamabad United. Gohar himself had been at the Quetta Gladiators' table for the auction, before he secured ownership of the Stallionz/Sultans.
Farhan went unsold in last year's PSL auction, but was signed as a replacement player by Islamabad and played in his third season for the franchise after a spell in 2018-2019. He played for the Karachi Kings in 2022 and Lahore Qalandars in 2024.
Just five days ago, Farhan struck his ninth century in T20 cricket, an unbeaten 106 as Multan chased down 226 against Hyderabad Kingsmen. At the T20 World Cup earlier this year, he made 383 runs in seven matches, breaking Virat Kohli's record for the most runs at a single edition of the tournament.
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