PAKISTAN SUPER LEAGUE
There was a time when Cricket was only followed in England
& Australia in its purest form i.e., Test Cricket. Indeed Test cricket
still to-date presents itself as the most compelling and jaw dropping format of
the game but a lot has changed since the introduction of One Day format. An
ideal scenario for marketing and advertising therefore more sponsors got
involved with the shorter format. With more sponsors came more crowds and with
the thrill and excitements that limited overs format is capable of we saw a lot
of innovations. Be it Kerry Packer’s World Series or the Champions Trophy
Knockout tournament or the World Cup itself these contests were filled with a
lot more than game itself. We also saw the introduction of double wicket
cricket tournament in early 90s and the Hong Kong Super Six tournament. But,
nothing can compare to the evolution or should I say the revolution in the form
of T-20 cricket. Talking about the T20 cricket the first World Cup was just the
ideal catalyst to stamp the authority as the world wide most popular format of
the game. I can never forget the Indo-Pak final of 2007 World T20 which saw
India take the title and then came the famous introduction of cricket league.
Started with Indian Premier League and its rival Indian Cricket League the
cricketing world had already been taken by storm and major stake holders got
involved. Soon the T20 league concept was adopted worldwide and hence the
cricketing standards just got a bit high (financially).
Pakistan is a cricket loving nation. It has got so much
talent and potential that oozes out of every city, every small town even
village. Despite not being able to organize home series since 2010 the passion
and the craze is still there among youth. This is very impressive considering
all the troubles this nation has had in the same time period. The essence of
this passion comes from the street cricket that is the most popular way to play
the game across Pakistan. It was sad to see this talent not being encouraged
and highlighted at the higher level. Here I should mention that most of the
talented youngsters hail from a very humble background where whole family is
dependent on sole bread earners and therefore for those cricketers it was
important to be backed financially and morally to continue playing cricket.
These are the circumstances where the need of a major Pakistani League was felt
more than ever. Departmental cricket and club cricket at Pakistan is there but
not producing top notch talented cricketers which would serve Pakistan at
national level. Talent is there, but grooming is missing.
Being a cricket fan, and as a Pakistani cricket fan I am
very happy with the introduction of Pakistan Super League finally going to kick
start with full throttle. There are many ifs and buts right now but let’s just
look at the brighter side of the picture that we are now ready to introduce
franchise based cricket league. Ideally the league should have been held in
Pakistan but sincere Pakistanis know that currently the best way to make this
league successful is really to stage it elsewhere and as Pakistan already adopting
UAE as home for last 4 years so it did make sense to host the league here. The
presence of just 5 teams meant straightaway that few players would remain
ignored and unpicked for beginning editions and this pressure will be on PCB
and PSL organizing committee itself more to make sure this shortcoming being
handled too for the upcoming years. But Sialkot & Faisalabad teams’ absence
will be felt considering that those teams are domestic tournament giants. Similarly
the team from Azad Kashmir or Gilgit Baltistan (Northern Areas) will be missed
during first few editions.
True league format requires home/away based games. Let’s
pray and hope that when PSL returns to Pakistan we see matches being played all
across Pakistani cities participating in PSL. Many fans started comparing PSL
with IPL which is injustice to PSL really considering the limitations of PCB
and PSL organizing committee. One thing is for sure the quality of cricket will
be sky high and that would definitely compete with IPL and other major leagues
worldwide. The cultural presence of Lahore and Peshawar has already made a lot
of impact on the fan base. Quetta being owned by Omar Associates is a blessing
in disguise because Omar Associates has its own grade-2 team representation.
Islamabad and Karachi has a very strong fan base because of multi-cultural and
multi-lingual presence of its citizens. So overall we are about to see some
serious fun and cricket come February.
Watch Out For:
a.
Punjab (Lahore) vs. Sindh (Karachi) traditional
rivalry.
b.
Afridi (Peshawar) vs. Misbah (Islamabad) social
media fans war to settle it once for all.
c.
Underdogs Quetta taking others cities by
surprise.
d.
Muhammad Amir vs. Muhammad Hafeez & Azhar
Ali.
e.
Wahab Riaz vs. Shane Watson (backlash of WC 2015
QF)
f.
Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo & Darren Sammy’s
Gangnam style celebrations.
g.
Afghanistan presence.
We are really in for a treat considering the history of
above mentioned scenarios. This is going to a successful league and it will
leave a major impact on Pakistan Cricket, its fans and international cricket by
all means. With the PSL brand tasting success in the upcoming years PCB will
also reap the benefits and in turn Pakistan cricket and cricketers will have
their professional and financial grooming much awaited for.
Good Luck PSL!
Written by: Fahran Shahzad
