Pakistan Super League (PSL) is the greatest T20 league in the world, PSL is 10 times bigger than Indian Premier League (IPL), PSL is the envy of the cricketing world, PSL is also a flop tournament even before a ball is bowled.
Pakistani public and their cricket board live under the disillusion that PSL is a great T20 tournament, or maybe it is just a coping mechanism because their players are never invited for the main event, the IPL. This year’s edition of the PSL is scheduled to start on May 26, and will continue till May 3.
However, even before a single ball is bowled in this year’s edition, the tournament has already turned into a damp squib.
First, several foreign players opted out of PSL at the last minute and decided to play for IPL teams after they were offered a contract. Players like Blessing Muzarabani of Zimbabwe, Dasun Shanaka of Sri Lanka, Spencer Johnson of Australia, Gudakesh Motie of West Indies have opted out of PSL in favour of IPL. This is not the first time it has happened. Last year, South African all-rounder Corbin Bosch did the same. He was banned for a year by PSL but apparently that “disciplinary action” has had no effect on foreign players.
As it is, PSL gets those foreign players who don’t get picked in IPL. Now even among those, IPL can handpick anyone they want when they look for injury replacements. Yeah, PSL is bigger than IPL, 10 times bigger.
Talking about foreign players in PSL, Bangladeshi cricketers are looking to skip the entire tournament and are looking towards their Cricket Board for a final decision. Bangladesh’s state minister for youth and sports Aminul Islam said, “Definitely our cricketers are not going if there is a security concern (in PSL). First BCB has to inform us about it (security concern) and afterwards we will take an official decision based upon our observation (following scrutiny from national agencies.”
Notably, Pakistan had threatened to boycott its match with India during the recent T20 World Cup in support of Bangladesh after they refused to travel to India. But now, Bangladesh is looking to give Pakistan’s premier tournament a miss in return. So much brotherhood, maybe Bangladesh is not happy that Pakistan took a u-turn and then played the game with India anyway.
With all these withdrawals of foreign players, PSL is starting to look like pretty much a domestic T20 tournament.
As if these news weren’t bad enough for the tournament, now Pakistan Board has decided that all the matches will be played behind closed doors, and will be played only at 2 venues, Lahore and Karachi. Earlier, the tournament was scheduled to be held all around the country.
This decision has been taken due to the fuel shortage in the country in light of the Iran war. It is understandable that there is a fuel shortage around the world these days, but still, it is yet another blow to the beleaguered league tournament. The fans will be highly disappointed while at the same time, their neighbours will be hosting their own T20 tournament in packed stadiums up and down the country.
All in all, PSL has turned into one of the rare tournaments which have turned out to be a flop show even before it started, and it is not because of any administrative failures in organisation.
