PSL: A pathway to revive cricket in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Feb 13, (AP): The Pakistan Super League is not like any other Twenty20 cricket competition. It can’t compete financially with the lucrative Indian Premier League in terms of player payments, yet it’s a dream for some cricketers just to be playing in it.

For the Pakistan Cricket Board, it’s considered a pathway to resuming fully-fledged international cricket on home soil.

It has been nearly a decade since a terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus at Lahore in 2009 resulted in the suspension of international cricket in Pakistan, forcing the national team to play its ‘home’ games in the United Arab Emirates.

Pakistan cricket organizers also had no other option when launching their flagship T20 tournament in 2016 but to organize the entire first edition in the UAE.

But that started a step-by-step process to bring international cricket back to Pakistan, a country of more than 200 million and where cricket is the major sport. The 2017 PSL final was staged in Lahore, demonstrating that local security agencies could safeguard foreign players.

Last year, Lahore hosted two PSL playoff games before the final was held in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city.

The 2019 edition, which starts in the UAE on Thursday, will feature eight games in either Lahore or Karachi involving all six franchises later in the tournament.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ehsan Mani wants even more in 2020, telling The Associated Press, “I’d I like to see majority of the matches next year to be held in Pakistan.”

Lahore and Karachi have been focal points of the push for more cricket on home soil, hosting Twenty20 games against a World XI, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. But progress is being held back by the lack of improvements to stadiums in cities such as Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad.

“We have certain limiting factors,” Mani said. “We need the other stadiums if we’re going to bring all the matches back to Pakistan.”

Mani took Pakistan cricket’s top job soon after cricketerturned politician Imran Khan, who is also the PCB patron, was sworn in as prime minister last year. Mani is now looking to Khan’s government for funding to “help us bring these stadiums up to scratch.”

Mani said the league was watched by more than 100 million people last year and its sponsorship and broadcast rights deals continued to grow rapidly despite Pakistan’s economic situation.

“PSL is unique,” he said. “It’s an enormous market, and the best endorsement that PSL had is our commercial partners.”