PSL lives in its own world

For a short while, the league will help this nation experience a normal life again

As Naseebo Lal sang through the encore of the sixth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) Anthem after she, along with Aima Baig and Young Stunners had grooved their way through the latest chorale to launch a PSL, millions launched their twitterati shrieking praise or condemnation of the production. Social media battles ensued as they did when the players’ auction had taken place a few weeks earlier.

All that aside what was there to celebrate was that the PSL had finally come home. All of it. After its embryonic days in the outfields of the UAE, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in alliance with the government and the security agencies had finally brought it home to Pakistani crowds.

There had been the testing of the waters with the final of the PSL having been played in Pakistan but this was the whole nine yards happening in the country of its conception.

It had its ups and downs since then, struck by the pandemic in 2021 and gone back to UAE for its completion after a gap of a few weeks.

But in 2022, the PSL7 returned with all its fanfare and music and jingoism and media releases. And of course cricket.

Again it had its controversies and its innuendos along with its excitement and energy.

But then that’s PSL for you. Like some political leaders, it has become a personality that has its extreme supporters and detractors, fighting it off on twitter, Instagram, Facebook and in café, street corners and the workplace.

You love an aspect or you hate it. But one common thread runs through its core: it now lives in Pakistanis’ bloodstream. To adapt the famous line from the Virginia Slims campaign of the 70s….You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby.

Lahore Qalandars’ players celebrate the victory in the final of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) Twenty20 cricket match between Lahore Qalandars and Multan Sultans at the Gaddafi Cricket Stadium in Lahore on February 27, 2022. (Photo by Arif ALI / AFP) (Photo by ARIF ALI/AFP via Getty Images)

Indeed Pakistanis now follow this short format celebration after it was created in 2003 as a marketing gimmick by English Cricket Board’s marketing head Stuart Robertson to pull in the crowds as attendance in English cricket had started waning. Little did he know what he had set alight.

Having said that, the current Pakistani generation and global millennials may not be aware that the shorter format was actually launched in Pakistan in the early 1980s by local entrepreneurs.

Come every Ramzan, and the grounds in the areas of Nazimabad, Malir, Korangi, Landhi would lit up with lights erected on bamboo poles and thousands would line the perimeter to watch matches that would start soon after Iftar and continue till Sehri.

And yes, these were 20-25 over contests where often top Pakistani players would also participate. I know of two Test players at the time who would charge for appearing in the games.

Pakistanis now wait for February as Lahoris waited for the month to celebrate Basant and the neo-romantics Valentine’s Day.

Loyalties may not be as well defined as in the European football League with clubs having a history of over a hundred years and the fans backing their district or city or regional teams simply because they once had only the local players.

In PSL you have Lahori Babar Azam playing for Peshawar Zalmi after having played for their arch-rivals Karachi Kings who have no Karachi player in their squad and hard-core Karachiite Sarfraz Ahmed playing for Quetta Gladiators where a couple of Quetta players sit on the benches.

And where Mohammad Rizwan who captains Multan Sultans over the last two seasons hadn’t gotten into the Karachi team in the two seasons before that.

It makes its own leaders where Babar who once played under Imad Wasim in Kings then captained Imad when he became captain of Pakistan only to have him play under him at Kings and has now moved on to Zalmi while Imad has regained the Kings captaincy.

And where there is no respect for national status as Misbah-ul-Haq was sacked as coach by Islamabad United after becoming coach of the national side a couple of years back. The franchise have their own world and their own rules.

It also throws up talent that has been wandering in the wilderness, blushing unseen. In PSL you now see a Rizwan or a Babar rocked back by a teenager or an audacious youngster landing Shaheen Shah Afridi or Shadab Khan into the stands off successive balls. What would happen in a deserted club game back in the 70s is now happening in front of multi-million viewers.

I say that because back in that time, I would see senior and current Pakistani Test players like Intikhab Alam, Mushtaq Mohammad, Asif Iqbal, Majid Khan, Asif Masood handled with absolute disdain by aspiring youngsters like Javed Miandad, Wasim Raja, Mohsin Khan, Taslim Arif and Sikander Bakht.

Now we have seen Shadab Khan, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hassan Ali and more recently Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Harris and Azam Khan emerge from this format and onto the global stage quicker than it took the talent to be seen in national colours all those years back.

And if there was no one to talk about in the 1970s how unfair it was that the likes of Aftab Baloch, Naeem Ahmed, Afzal Masood, Naseer Malik didn’t get to play for Pakistan or feature in more than a game or two, today there remains huge public pressure to ask why Qasim Akram, Ahsan Ali, Azam, Rohail Nazir, Salman Irshad, Zafar Gauhar or Zaman Khan are not getting an opportunity in Pakistan colours.

PSL has also been a marketing heaven for brands that were not in the mainstream cricket sponsorship due to limited space on the cricket gear and not enough funds to compete with the blue-chip MNCs.

Now with six franchises and a larger kit canvas front and back, brands in the middle medium win awareness and get associated with the most popularly viewed sport in the country.

It’s been great for the players too who would not normally win PCB central contracts. Or for coaches, fitness trainers, who were not trained enough or influential enough to manage the national team. Not only do they get recognition but earn to stay in the game at the very least, and even in numbers that can help them launch their own businesses or invest after they retire.

Karachi Kings’ Babar Azam celebrates after scoring half century (50 runs) during the Pakistan Super League (PSL) T20 cricket match between Karachi Kings and Multan Sultans at the National Stadium in Karachi on February 27, 2021. (Photo by Asif HASSAN / AFP) (Photo by ASIF HASSAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The best part of course has been that PSL has come home. In bits and pieces since the first three editions were held completely in the desert kingdom but since 2020 totally in Pakistan.

This means more earnings for the hospitality and travel industries in major Pakistani cities though the onset of COVID-19 and its required protocols meant the smaller cities fell out.

However, now Rawalpindi and Multan are having a share of the spoils and the exhibition match in Quetta last Sunday showed that no matter what the situation on the ground is, cricket will live on. And not just because of the excitement that game generated with Iftikhar slamming a Punjab minister for six sixes in an over.

These remain minor hiccups in what has become a billion-dollar brand if not now at least in potential. It’s a national identity now and for four weeks devours the hearts and minds and TV screens of every household in Pakistan.

As Atif Aslam and Aima Baig sang the PSL & theme song Agay Dekh, the message remains embedded in its title. Let’s look forward and let’s get ready for another PSL that is going to take the country by storm.

Some have questioned whether we should be showering such lavishness at a time when millions of people are finding it difficult to have three meals a day. Whether the country can afford to pay thousands of dollars to foreign players, production crew and commentators when the country doesn’t have dollars to spare. And when the country is in the grip of uncertainty given the fear of default and political chaos, where crime has risen to unbearable levels and political victimisation is at its height.

Valid queries all. But perhaps PSL8 starting tomorrow will provide the distraction we need from what is nevertheless a grand reality and a clear and present danger.

For a few hours every night, we will lose the sense of despondency and for a few weeks, we might talk of the gripping finales and the biggest sixes and wickets flying all over the place and players hurling themselves to save a boundary or take that spectacular catch. For a short while we may experience a normal life again. For that, it seems to be worth it.

Sohaib Alvi has been covering cricket at home and abroad for over 40 years as columnist, editor, analyst, TV expert/host. An MBA from IBA he has simultaneously had a 35-year career in the corporate sector, having worked in C-Suite positions. He now advises clients on leadership, business strategy, marketing and organizational planning.