Najam Sethi, the PCB executive committee head, has announced a five-team franchise-based Twenty20 league to be held from February 4 to 24 next year in Doha, Qatar. The teams would be from the provincial capitals - Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Islamabad - with prize money of $1 million.

The PCB had initially planned to host the league in the UAE, Pakistan's virtual home since 2009. However, when the PCB approached the Emirates Cricket Board to secure the venues during the third week of June, they learned that the organisers of the Masters Champions League - a tournament for retired international cricketers - had already booked the stadiums for the February window.

"After extensive negotiations with various stakeholders, the Pakistan Super League governing council has decided to lock Doha as its preferred location for the tournament," Sethi said in Lahore. "The five-team tournament will take place in February next year with a total of 24 matches scheduled to take place in the first edition. We are starting with five teams in order to build the value of our franchises and will expand the number of teams in the coming editions."

The signing of players for the league is yet to be finalised but Sethi informed that the PCB had engaged with player agents and are hoping that "top players" from every Full Member country other than India will be part of the league.

"Top foreign players from all Test-playing nations except India have expressed interest in signing up for the PSL," Sethi said. "As of now, the PSL team has consent from over 40 international players. In addition, top foreign coaches are also being roped in for the first edition of the PSL. The tournament will carry collective prize money of up to $ 1 million."

The latest plan for the league isn't as high profile as the previous one during Zaka Ashraf's regime under which the business model - unveiled in January 2013 - was expected to fetch the PCB "in excess of $100 million".