A league of our own

Cricket saw its inception in the 16^th century but was officially played for the first time in 1877 between England and Australia. Many of the British colonies joined later on, like South Africa (1889), West Indies (1928), New Zealand (1928) and India (1932). Pakistan joined in 1952, when they toured India. The game which started as a Five day affair called test, was shortened to one day and thus was conveniently called one day internationals. It was the advent of one day internationals that gave boost to the popularity of the game and it was further triggered by the Kerry Packer led world cricket series. The World Series not only brought money to the game but it also brought with it new phenomenon such as day and night cricket and colored kits for the players. The evolutionary process did not stopped here; it gave birth to a new form of cricket, now we all know as the T20’s.

T20 has revolutionized the game, it has not only won new fans for the games but it has made the game more competitive, innovative and financially viable for the sports administrators and above all for the players. At the moment every cricket board has developed their own cricket leagues; most famous among them are IPL (Indian Cricket League), Big Bash (Australian T20 league), Ram Slam (South African cricket competition) and CPL (Caribbean Premiere League). These leagues are mutually beneficial for the local and international players as the local players get a chance to compete at the highest level and also get the opportunity to share the dressing room with the best in the world while the international players get a chance to play in different conditions which help them to hone their cricketing skills. These leagues have played a great role in polishing the local talent and preparing them for the international arena.

Pakistan is one of the biggest names of international cricket circuit. Over the years Pakistan has produced players which with their skills and natural talent has changed the face of the game and literally ruled the game. It was Pakistan that made this game human, they added spices like unpredictability, raw talent and mercurial individual performers to the game, without Pakistan this game would have been a complete bore. However, now Pakistan is about to launch her own T20 league namely Pakistan Super League, which will be played in the UAE due to the law and order situation back home. PSL will comprise of five teams Islamabad United, Lahore Qalandars, Karachi Kings, Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators. On paper PSL is just another T20 league but due to the current situation of Pakistan’s cricket, its importance and significance are manifolds. Pakistan today has no home cricket; Pakistan plays her home series in UAE. Having no home series have caused multiple difficulties as board does not earn as much as it used to, Pakistan is not getting the A-tours as regularly as they should mainly because they cannot have teams in Pakistan and hosting any team outside Pakistan is an expensive affair and this has negatively affected Pakistan’s bench strength, and above all it has negatively affected the performance of the team which was once the best team in the world- her ODI ranking is now below Bangladesh. Other than this Pakistan’s domestic structure does not gives a player enough money to live on and many of the Pakistani domestic players are looking for opportunities outside Pakistan.

Although PSL will be played in UAE, but will comprise of many international and Domestic players, this will give an opportunity to future Pakistani probables to observe how international cricket is like, what is required to succeed at the international level, what is the “new” in the game, what they could do to improve their fitness level, by sharing the dressing room with the greats of the game will help them to learn from their experiences and they will also get paid handsomely which will enable them to sustain in the game for a bit longer period of time.

PSL is also a learning curve for Pakistani cricket administrators. They should work towards turning this event into a world marvel. It is very important that the league is played in a fair and corruption free environment. Lately with all the fixing scandals in the IPL and BPL, the reputations of these leagues have dented. PSL cannot afford such bad publicity. All the revenues that will be generated from PSL should be directed towards the construction of cricketing infrastructure in the country, improvement of the existing one and most importantly towards the overhauling of domestic cricket in Pakistan which requires a lot of fixing. It is also imperative that the league should be shifted to Pakistan as soon as Pakistan is fit to host it.

I will conclude with the hope and prayers that the league flourishes and achieves whatever is expected of it. The fact that it is a Pakistani product makes it superior from all its rivals and all of us should take the ownership of this league.