The Pakistan Super League (PSL) T20 could find itself in major financial trouble after all of its six participating franchises refused to submit bank guarantees for the tournament’s fifth edition next year. 

The rule for the participating franchises to submit bank guarantees for the next edition six months prior to the start of the tournament was made by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) itself. 

However, the franchise owners, following a recent meeting with the board chairman Ehsan Mani and the rest of the concerning officials, made it absolutely clear that they won't be submitting bank guarantees until the board first sends them complete audited accounts of the fourth PSL edition.

The fourth edition of PSL finished in March this year but the PCB is yet to send the accounts to the franchisees, who are given a major portion of earnings from broadcasting, media and title rights, sponsorship and other avenues.

One PCB source close to the matter reasoned assurance of no delay in payments to the overseas and local players at any stage for taking bank guarantees from the franchises since the launch of the PSL in 2016. 

"Until now the PSL has earned the reputation of being financially a very stable venture for players and officials since the board directly deals with the players and pays them," the source said to reveal how PCB wishes to safeguard players' interests in all scenarios. The board also doesn't want to bring any harm to PSL's reputation as an event. 

There has been a rift between franchisees and board on the financial model of the league for a while since the former believe that with the PSL now becoming a successful brand they should be given a greater share of revenues to recover losses from the first four editions.

(Inputs from PTI)