7 Hits and Misses from the Pakistan Super League
The PSL showed us that:
- Good T20 cricket entertainment is possible without cheerleaders. There
were no mini-skirts or poms poms monopolizing the TV screens after every
boundary or wicket.
- Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad are the best batsmen Pakistan has among
the current generation. If this fact was lost on some, it was reinvigorated by
the PSL.
- Misbah is still the best captain Pakistan has.
- Mohammad Sami can still bowl like he did 20 years ago and he will
still make comebacks!
- International stars like Viv Richards, Dean Jones, Kevin Pietersen,
Kumar Sangakkara, Brad Haddin, Shane Watson, Darren Sammy, Dwayne Smith and
others have the passion to support cricket in Pakistan.
- Shahid Afridi will remain a crowd puller till he’s 50! The play-off
between Zalmis and Gladiators had a bigger crowd than the final, and Afridi
managed to pull a bigger cheer from the crowd from his special appearance in
the stands than the Islamabad win.
- There are private enterprises and individuals willing to put money into Pakistan cricket as long as there is a viable model for them. Hats off to ARY, Javed Afridi, Fawad Rana, Ali Naqvi, and Nadeem Omar for getting involved in the PSL. It is not long before they take the earnings from PSL and invest those in improving the infrastructure in Pakistan in order to develop talent for their PSL teams and eventually Pakistan.
What the PSL needs:
- More teams for starters. 8 is a good number and the sooner these are
added to the mix the better. If the number of teams is not increased then we
need a better format. 20 group games to eliminate 1 team out of 5 seems
superfluous.
- Greater involvement of Pakistan’s past legends. Where was Javed
Miandad? One of the franchises should get him involved; ideally Karachi. Waqar
Younis was also missing. Younis Khan, Inzamam, Yousuf, Saqlain, Razzaq, Saeed
Anwar, Aamer Sohail, Rashid Latif should all be involved with the franchises in
some capacity.
- A game or two in Pakistan. Ideally the whole tournament should be
played there but for the time that is not possible, each team should play at
least one game on Pakistan soil; in their home city! A game each In Islamabad,
Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, and Quetta will be great for starters.
- Improved marketing and merchandising. Adverts around Dubai were
restricted to one huge billboard and plenty of taxis. There must be more. It
should be everywhere. Restaurants, malls, streets, everything should be PSL for
as long as it is being played in the UAE. Merchandising was scarce and PSL
missed out on an important revenue stream. The Zalmis had a stall at the
ground, but none of the other franchises did. Even now people want to know
where they can get team shirts and jackets. Make it available now!
- Shane Watson, Chris Gayle, KP, Haddin, Bravo, Sammy, Dwayne Smith, Shaun
Tait were all great to have. Time to get the likes of ABD, McCullum, Warner,
Stokes, Hales, Guptill, Jayawardene involved.
- More celebrities. Ali Zafar and Fawad Khan seemed to be the only ones
around. Where are they rest? Maybe the question should be, who are the rest?
- More matches! It was over way too soon!
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