Just as the nation was heading into the Eid break – which is when this piece was scribed as well – the Pakistan Cricket Board decided to give us all two major talking points to keep ourselves busy during the holidays.
The first of these is the idea of hosting the entirety of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in Pakistan next year. The word from the cricket board and the six PSL franchises is that everyone is on board with regards to completely hosting the next tournament in the country. That is also the vows that were made after the final leg of this year’s PSL was successfully hosted in Karachi – amidst war clouds, one must add.
Sarfaraz Ahmed, Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah
Even so, one can’t help but feel that the jump from hosting eight matches this year to all 34 next year might be too ambitious. For, there are multiple factors to be considered.
First and foremost is the task of convincing international superstars to stay in the country for over a month, as compared to around a week that they stayed this year. Let’s not forget that the progress made thus far on PSL is: 0 matches in 2016, 1 in 2017, 3 in 2018 and 8 in 2019.
Where it goes without saying that the turnout of international stars would be affected if all 34 of the matches next year are played in Pakistan, many are – emotionally, if one might add – suggesting that we shouldn’t care who shows up and who doesn’t, the league should be played in the country no matter what.
Opening ceremony of PSL final 2017
The whole point of a franchise league is that major international athletes take part in it, and help bolster the young local talent and also boost the commercial side of things through their stardom. If you just want to host a T20 league in Pakistan, we already have the National T20 Cup.
Furthermore, the bid to host 34 matches includes, staging contests in other cities outside Lahore and Karachi, with Rawalpindi, Multan and even Peshawar and Mirpur being ambitiously suggested. This should be, and undoubtedly is, the ultimate goal for the PSL, but to get this all done six months from now is a tall-order – and an unnecessary gamble, when another transition year can continue the progress for Pakistan.
Perhaps the more prudent thing to do would be to stage roughly half (16 to 20) matches in Pakistan, largely in Lahore and Karachi with possible expansion to Rawalpindi and Multan. This should keep the international contingent intact and help build towards hosting the tournament in its entirety in Pakistan by 2021.
Quetta Gladiators, winners of this year's PSL
The second hot topic that the PCB has generously given us all is with regards to the central contract list. The number of centrally contracted players has been reduced from 33 to 19.
Of these 19, only Sarfaraz Ahmed, Babar Azam and Yasir Shah in the A category. This might suggest that Sarfaraz might continue as the skipper in at least two of the three formats.
Where we would endorse the decision to leave out Mohammed Hafeez and Shoaib Malik, both of whom should now bid adieu from all forms of international cricket, there are quite a few contentious decisions in the categorisation of the players.
No need to take unnecessary gambles with PSL, when another transition year can continue the progress for Pakistan
Here are the three categories:
Category A: Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Yasir Shah
Category B: Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Abbas, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Wahab Riaz
Category C: Abid Ali, Hasan Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Shan Masood and Usman Shinwari
For instance, if Yasir Shah is in Category A owing to being a permanent fixture in the Test side, why aren’t Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali there? If it’s because Asad and Azhar haven’t exactly been performing as well as they have done in the past, then why is Mohammad Abbas in Category B, given that he was ranked in the top three in Test ranking for bowlers following the UAE Tests last winter?
Similarly, Imad Wasim, a contender for limited overs captaincy is in Category C, behind Wahab Riaz who just got back into the limited overs side after two years? Amir’s demotion to category C is ostensibly because he has retired from Tests – but then so has Wahab Riaz? Hasan Ali and Fakhar Zaman might have been demoted to Category C owing to poor performances at the World Cup.
Furthermore, all these decisions have been taken without a chief selector on board, and hence once someone is appointed to replace Inzamam-ul-Haq he will have a pre-decided pool of players under contract.
Maybe, this one we won’t spend too much time deliberating over.
