Gohar Shah just took over the Multan Sultans last month. He is 30 years old, he used to be a first-class cricketer himself, and he has opinions. A lot of them. And he is not particularly bothered about whether those opinions make him popular in PSL circles or not.
His first big statement as the new owner of Multan Sultans was honest in a way that franchise owners rarely are in public. He said he has not found the PSL enjoyable for several years. That is a bold thing to say when you have just spent PKR 2 billion to buy into the very league you are criticising.
But that is exactly the kind of owner Gohar appears to be.
What Is Wrong With PSL cricket, according to Gohar
He did not hold back when he talked about what he thinks is broken in the PSL. His view is that most franchises are too defensive in how they build their squads and approach their cricket. Selectors, coaches, and general managers, he believes, are all playing it safe because they are trying to protect their own jobs rather than actually build something special.
"There are not many franchises with a vision or flexibility to think bigger," he said. "A lot of decision-making in the PSL is risk-averse, whereas T20 cricket is about taking risk."
He pointed to Jacob Bethell being made captain at the Hundred as an example of genuine bold thinking. In his view, the PSL has not seen many decisions like that. He gave Islamabad United some credit for their work with Shadab Khan a couple of years ago, but said nothing comparable has happened since across the league.
How Gohar Even Ended Up Owning Multan Sultans
Gohar's purchase of Multan Sultans has to rate as one of the more odd stories to have emerged out of cricket in Pakistan recently.
He opted not to bid for the two new franchises that were added for PSL 2026, as he said he wanted to wait for Multan Sultans. Their previous owner, Ali Tareen, decided against renewing. When the PCB moved faster than expected on the sale, Gohar jumped in. He travelled between London, where he now lives, and Lahore and showed up at the bidding.
He lost. Walee Technologies outbid him, paying a record PKR 2.45 billion annually and renaming the franchise Rawalpindi Pindiz. Photos of Gohar's visible disappointment at missing out circulated on social media, and people responded to his obvious, genuine passion for the project.
Then things got complicated. Two days later, he received calls suggesting that the owners of the Sialkot Stallions were interested in selling their stake. Following the franchise purchase, Hamza Majeed, owner of Stallionz, has opted to sell his controlling stake.Gohar acted fast, pays PKR 2 billion a year, keeps Multan Sultans' name and branding, and smartly gains the franchise he wanted all along.
He freely admits the PCB should provide more clarity on what exactly happened during that whole process. He calls it MultanGate himself.
Total Cricket Is His Big Idea
Gohar has built his ownership philosophy around a concept he calls Total Cricket. The term reflects the tactical paradigm of Total Football which is associated with the Netherlands National Soccer Team and Johan Cruyff.
He is aware that it might sound like management speak. He was at Deloitte in London before this and he knows people will roll their eyes at a financial consultant bringing corporate philosophy into cricket. But he insists Total Cricket is rooted in practical, common-sense ideas about how the game should be played.
The core of it is proactivity. Not smashing every ball, not batting recklessly, but constantly thinking about where the best scoring opportunity is and taking it. He described it as finding the highest number of runs for the lowest amount of risk, applied consistently across 120 balls. He called it a hybrid between Bazball and Smartball.
"You're not trying to anchor or ease the pressure," he explained. "You're actively trying to see where my chance for scoring the highest number of runs, taking the lowest amount of risk, is."
Fitness and Fielding Come Before Everything Else
Beyond the philosophy, Gohar has some very specific practical beliefs about where PSL teams lose games and where Sultans can gain an edge.
He thinks batting teams routinely give away 10 to 20 runs simply because their batters are not good enough at converting ones into twos. Over a Twenty20 innings, those missed runs add up to roughly two extra overs' worth of scoring opportunity that just vanish because of lazy running between the wickets.
On the bowling side, his thinking is similarly straightforward. He likes aggressive bowlers who’ll take wickets than bowlers who will look to avoid runs being scored at all costs. According to him, regularly taking wickets with the ball helps you bowl out teams for 150 or 160 which is always gettable. Conceding runs while attacking is a worthwhile trade if you are also taking wickets.
Fielding is a non-negotiable in his setup. Total Cricket requires players who can field multiple positions well, not specialists who need to be hidden somewhere on the boundary to protect their limitations.
Ashton Turner Over Steve Smith
One of the most interesting decisions Gohar and the Sultans made ahead of this season was choosing Ashton Turner as captain over Steve Smith. Smith is the bigger name globally. Turner is the smarter captaincy choice by the logic Gohar applies.
Turner guided the Perth Scorchers to three of their five Big Bash League titles, including the latest one just two months ago. Anywhere in the world, few have better records as a franchise captain than Rohit Sharma. From the beginning, Gohar sought to have that mentality of winning in the dressing room.
The appointment is done in line with the Total Cricket. You select the most capable leader for the task at hand, not the best-known face.
A Former Cricketer Turned Owner
There is something worth noting about Gohar that separates him from many franchise owners. He actually played the game. He turned out for National Bank and Loughborough University as a fast bowler, giving him a page on ESPNcricinfo that he mentions with obvious pride. A back injury ended his playing career and took him into financial consulting, but the cricket never left him.
He stopped enjoying watching Pakistan cricket for a number of years. He felt the team had lost its ability to win matches in moments, to create that feeling where even with the odds stacked against them there was still a chance of something special happening. He described it as probably the first time in his life that he would watch a Pakistan game knowing they had no chance of winning. That feeling bothered him enough to spend two billion rupees a year trying to fix it, at least at one franchise level.
Will It Work?
That is the only question that actually matters when the cricket starts. Total Cricket is a compelling idea on paper. The Ashton Turner captaincy is a smart call. The focus on fitness, fielding, and aggressive, proactive batting is the kind of philosophy that sounds right.
But ideas get tested when the ball is bowled in real match conditions. Islamabad United built its success on data and smart thinking, and still gets mocked when results go wrong. Sultans will face the same scrutiny if the results do not back up the philosophy in the first few weeks.
Gohar knows this. He said himself that they may not get it right the first time. What he is certain about is that they will do things differently.
Whether Total Cricket becomes a punchline or a blueprint that other PSL franchises start copying quietly, that story will unfold over the next six weeks of this tournament. Gohar Shah has backed his vision with serious money and serious conviction. Now it is over to Ashton Turner, the squad, and the cricket itself to deliver the proof.