Hope on the horizon for domestic cricket

It has been at least seven years since rumours of a Pakistani Twenty20 league have been making the rounds, yet none have come to fruition. Two attempts have been made to launch it and both have failed. However, attempt number three could be the real making of what should have been an already-established product of Pakistan cricket. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is not late by just a year or two, but by at least half a decade. Now, it will take a lot more time to catch up with other Twenty20 leagues around the world.

While the other leagues have already passed through their fledgling phases of trial and error, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) would be the new kid on the block, with aims of competing against the big boys. However, one thing which is guaranteed is that it would certainly change the fortunes of Pakistan’s domestic players, who have to pay from their pockets to cover expenses while appearing in domestic Twenty20 tournaments, which is a shame.

Dreadfully, the PCB is not even able to pay handsome match fees in domestic competitions, despite its huge income. The officials concerned said that they had allowed players to stay in five-star hotels, without realising that all the money paid by the board was being utilised to purchase air tickets for the players. All this is just a reflection of what has been happening at the PCB for the last decade and one of the main reasons that top quality cricketers are not coming up. Gone are the days when wearing national colours was the main attraction. With rising inflation, domestic players need financial security and it is only after they achieve this that they will truly be able to focus on their game and perform well.

Their fortunes are about to change, even if it means that only 20 per cent of domestic players would be able to get into the high-profile PSL. This could spur other players to produce outstanding performances to get into the league, which launches in February 2015. Only time will tell whether the PSL evolves successfully or ends up in failure. For now, even the PCB’s worst critics should back the board as something huge is at stake here — namely, the future of Pakistan’s young cricketers who are dying to witness some level of professionalism at the domestic level.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st,  2015.