After many years of discussion, the Pakistan Super League has emerged as Pakistan’s premier T20 league with its first contest scheduled for February next year. Sadly, the games featuring some of the top T20 talent in the world and five exotically named teams – the Peshawar Zalmis, Quetta Gladiators, Lahore Qalandars, Karachi Kings and Islamabad United – will take place in the UAE due to the country’s security situation. The league has been carefully planned with over 300 Pakistani players put up for draft along with high-profile cricketers from around the world. The PSL has been set up after studying the patterns of other similar leagues in other countries. The team franchises offered for a 10-year period were sold out within days. The Karachi Kings went for the largest amount, bought by the ARY Media Group. The Lahore Qalandars followed at $2.4 million with Qatar Oil now their owners. UAE Capital Ventures owns Islamabad, Haier owns Peshawar Zalmis and Omar Associates owns Quetta Gladiators. Cricket icons like Waseem Akram, Dean Jones, Shoaib Akhtar and others are associated with the various teams. A carefully drawn up system of tradeoffs exists to avoid battles between teams over the players hired and also allow individuals some choice in who they sign up with.
The contest in the UAE is already being eagerly awaited by cricket fans in the country and is expected to produce some thrilling cricket. But excitement almost always comes alongside at least some element of controversy. The inclusion of Muhammad Amir by the Karachi Kings brought initial protest from key cricket figures, including national selector Kabir Khan. Following Amir’s inclusion in the national team fitness camp, some of his colleagues had at first refused to participate, on the basis that Amir had been found guilty of involvement in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal. They have since come around but there are still strong views on the issue. One argument goes that Amir, let off early on the basis of his age at the time of the affair, has paid the price for his crime. The other view, which comes in from former captain Ramiz Raja among others, holds that those who have damaged Pakistan’s cricket should not again be allowed to represent it. It is difficult to find the right balance to these contentions over an issue that has marred Pakistan cricket for years. We hope it will not mar the Super League. The effort put into getting it together deserves praise. It should enliven the cricket season in the country, which has already suffered too much due to security concerns over the past few years.
