LAHORE: Lahore was just like the centre of the universe for the cricket enthusiasts on Saturday as the PSL fever generated festivity across the country.
Though, the PSL had maintained from the very beginning that the year's final would be held in Pakistan, the bombings over the last month had caused uncertainty. There were voices of concerns as many people had reservations about holding the final in the country considering the challenges associated with maintaining security of such a mega event.
It wouldn’t be entirely inaccurate to say that even the critics couldn’t help but to give in to the national sentiment. PSLFinal was the top trending topic in the country on Twitter for the last two days.
Those who had been lucky enough to get a ticket for the final were posting their pictures with the tickets on social media. The shops selling PSL teams’ shirts in Lahore were swarmed with youth.
Eateries across the city were clogged on Saturday night. It was a challenge to get a table as thousands, who had travelled to Lahore to watch the final, took some time out to explore the food Lahore is known for.
“Cricket is coming home! Come on Pakistan! Let's chant Pakistan Zindabad!” said Osama who had come all the way from Karachi along with five friends.
The entire build up to the Final is a phenomenon in itself that, like any other thing in Pakistan, the issue quickly became political where the PTI chief after calling for the entire tournament being held in the country went out all guns blazing against it. It is, however, interesting to note that the majority of PTI leadership did not subscribe to this stance and are pretty candid about it.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, while talking about the PSL being much more than a cricketing event, said, “Terror will not dictate our way of life and the message is loud and clear.”
“They say cricket is like religion for us. This explains why the PSL is being politicised,” said Farah Hadeed.
The excitement, disappointment and controversy surrounding the sale of tickets continued till the last moment on Saturday as the massive demand for more tickets forced the Pakistan Cricket Board to slash its corporate commitments.
PSL Chairman Najam Sethi announced that online sale of tickets had started on public demand, with the corporate sales being stopped.
“On great public demand we have stopped corporate sales & put up more tickets for online sale @Rs 12000/Rs8000/ at https://www.q-tickets.com/psl/” Najam Sethi announced on Twitter.
“I just bought three 8k tickets for PSL. After selling my iPhone” said Sharmeen, and she wasn’t the only one overwhelmed by the event.
Like at any other event, the Awami Muslim League head, Sheikh Rashid, didn’t miss the opportunity of steering himself into the limelight. “PTI Chairman Imran Khan personally tried convincing me not to watch the match in the stadium,” he said.
“But as much as I respect his opinion and concern, I am a people’s person and I can’t avoid being a part of this.”
The speculations regarding the international players as to who would and who wouldn’t be coming to Lahore were a major talking point on social media and among all cricket fanatics in the country. The fact that Peshawar Zalmi, announced that their players would be coming added more to the thrill of the final in Lahore.
The teams and their officials arrived in Lahore on Saturday and this quotation by Sir Vivian Richards won the hearts of 20 million Pakistanis, “I don’t have any issues coming to Pakistan, I had played in Peshawar during the times we could actually hear the Russian bombing in Afghanistan,” he said.
Broadcast media in the country went absolutely headfirst into the PSL final whirlpool sucking everyone into its core. Every talk show, every news package, every hourly news headline was centred around Sunday’s mega event. Special transmissions with special packages starting from early morning had been arranged and advertised by every media outlet in an attempt to draw more viewership to its channel.
On Saturday, the sports critics called PSL 2017 a resounding success and even suggested that more teams should be added to the event in the next year. “Tomorrow my favourite team will be Pakistan and want a peaceful final”, said Zainab.
Meanwhile, the Punjab government will launch free shuttle service to facilitate the cricket lovers from selected spots to the stadium. The service will start from 1pm.
On the other hand, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif gave a detailed briefing to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who arrived in the city on Saturday, on the security arrangements, as they expressed satisfaction over the preparations.
Later in the evening, he also paid a surprise visit to Qaddafi Stadium to monitor the progress.
Earlier, Shahbaz and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar also held a meeting, during which the chief minister said every step would be taken without compromising the security that the routine life of citizens wasn’t disturbed.
They rejected the statements of opposition leaders with regard to deployment of 60,000 security officials for the final, saying only 10,000 security personnel were being deputed, which was not a big deal given the nature of the event.
They said the opposition leaders were doing politics over security arrangements for the event and trying to create a feeling of discomfort.
Both the leaders also expressed their satisfaction over the joint operations conducted Punjab Police and the Rangers.
