The Seven Ages of PSL

Those who have read William Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy As You Like It may recall the monologue by the melancholic Jacques in Act 2 Scene 7 whereupon he speaks of the seven ages of man, they being: Infancy, Schoolboy, Teenager, Young man, Middle-aged, Old aged, Dotage & death.

Let us retract the seventh age; in fact, let’s call it rebirth or reincarnation. The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is not going anywhere except forward and on to bigger things. If anything it is maturing like old wine. But it has indeed evolved through similar six ages.

Born in 2016 and every year learning as a schoolboy in 2017 with little experimentation, being bolder as a teenager in 2018 and being reckless and woke, having a leg in two places in 2019, having a middle-age crisis in 2020 and falling to a virus in 2021. And in 2022 defying all odds to breathe new life and start life all over again, wiser and stronger.

It’s been a long story. Pakistan became the last (NZ seems to have given up the boat a long time back) among major Test-playing members to have launched this league in 2016 after a botched attempt a year earlier of a six-day event that never left the corridors of Gaddafi Stadium.

But after watching with much internal consternation and excruciating indolence other cricket boards launch theirs, Pakistan Super League is — and was at its inception — ranked by some as the second most viewed T20 league after the Indian Premier League. England’s T20 Blast, Australia’s Big Bash League, CSA T20 Challenge (since relaunched as Mzansi Super League), West Indies’ Caribbean Premier League, Sri Lanka Premier League (now LPL) as well as the Bangladesh Premier League, all launched before PSL, reportedly lag behind in the number of eyeballs they get every edition.

It is tragic though that PSL was truncated, not once but twice, when it had just settled fully at home. It had out of compulsion been the only cricket league not played in its land. When it did begin to move over bit by bit to Pakistan — in a manner not unlike the lyrics of Tasleem Fazli’s romantic poem Rafta Rafta — with the final in 2017, Eliminators & Final in 2018, last round onwards in 2019 and all games next season, Covid-19 temporarily halted it short of knockouts in 2020; then halfway in 2021, sending it back to the desert kingdoms three months later to be completed in a more secure bubble.

Yet, PSL has always lived and still breathes, in the bosom of every Pakistani. It espouses more glamour than the rest of the leagues put together, with the ostensible exception of IPL.  Its opening ceremonies and anthems are anxiously awaited and though the organizers and creatives have made it a cumbersome launch event a couple of times, the anthems and singers have never disappointed.

From Ali Zafar gyrating to Ab Khel Kay Dekha in the first edition in 2016 to Groove Mera by Naseebo Lal, Aima Baig & Young Stunners setting a new trend six seasons later, PSL has ridden on mounting enthusiasm at the start of every edition.

The glitz and razzmatazz have compensated to some extent the absence on the playing fields of most of the leading current cricketers of other countries. This has been as much due to the window available to the PCB where most players are representing their national team as it has to do with a lower financial offering by the franchises. The latter point of course is a result of lesser sponsorships available to the franchises due to the size of Pakistan’s economy.

Moreover till last season, PCB was holding on to 20% of rights revenue. That it has ceded to 5% may still not make a difference due to the escalating dollar. Further, for the last six seasons, the lucrative and longer IPL starts within a few days and top cricketers, even when free, prefer to take this time to rest or avoid potential injury in the days leading up to its start.

To be truthful, ever since it has left the Gulf States that offered players a vibrant nightlife, adventure and shopping sprees with family, and where they were felicitated at extravagant dinners and yacht parties with celebrities from all over, the PSL has lost some of its societal charms. Security reservations in Pakistan restrict such entertainment and this year, players of anyone franchise will not be able to interact with those of another, except on the ground.

As such the excitement in the lead up rests more on the launched or probable team jerseys and some stirring team and player videos released by PCB’s marketing and media departments and by the franchises.

While the cricket may not be for the purist and the hopelessly romantic of the 1970s play, it jacks up ratings and the frenzy creation in the crowd where it will be allowed that is. Marketers revel in it. They build their brands on the brand that has become PSL. Whether it is something as frolicsome as a snack brand or as unadventurous as a banking product, all line up to do their bidding in between overs; annoyingly some even during overs as the screen is suddenly pulled in from showing cricket to pushing a product.

The franchise owners have never had it so good, no matter how much they grumble and whine about financial losses. They have stepped out of the boardrooms and become public figures, seen smiling or fretting next to the dugout, involved as much as the coach and the manager.

It seems the PSL has now become a brand for political mileage with the Chief Minister Sindh throwing his hat in saying that Sindh Government is looking to launch a franchise too. Sukker is being touted as the seventh team, possibly in 2023. That is also the result of players from the lower profile cities of Sindh making their mark on the biggest stage.

But despite all the off-field activities and manoeuvrings, there is of course the brilliance of cricket played. The cracking sound of willow on leather as big hitters like Asif Ali, Jason Roy and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, challenge the speed and guile of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Chris Jordan and Rashid Khan.

More importantly the PSL almost every season brings to light some precocious talent. From its earlier editions, there arose Shadab Ahmed, Hassan Ali and Rumman Raees who were all instrumental in Pakistan winning the 2017 Champions Trophy. Lately, there has been Shahnawaz Dahani, who in his very first year has become the jumping jack flash of Pakistan.

Fighting hard and valiantly under three administrations over six years, for not just time and space in cricket frenzied calendar but also with political innuendos and raging pandemic, PSL has nevertheless kept its flag flying and continues to move forward. To be frank its voyage is more about churning money and entertaining. This is instant food much removed from the chef’s painstaking entrée of Test cricket. It has a different serving, a different flavour. But it relates to the appetite of the masses and that is all that really matters.

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