The cricket governing body for Pakistan, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), was founded on 1 May 1949, and has been organizing domestic cricket events consistently since then, mostly assigning Lahore and Karachi equally as host cities along with other cities of Punjab and Sindh as less frequent sites. The capital of Balochistan, Quetta, has only hosted four first class matches and cricket association T-20 tournaments until now which as compared to other provincial capitals, is nothing in the past seven and a half decades.
After partition in 1947 and subsequent recognition by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as a test nation in 1952, over two hundred players have represented Pakistan in test cricket, with the majority from Lahore and Karachi. Despite having talent, no one from Balochistan before or after Shoaib Khan, the only player who has represented Pakistan at the international level, has made it to international cricket.
Players like Naseem Khan, Faisal Irfan, Raj Hans, Arun Lal, Jalat Khan and Bismillah Khan kept knocking the national team’s door with their consistent performances, but to no avail. Abdul Wahid Bangulzai and Haseebullah Khan are currently the only contestants from Balochistan for the national team, but we will have to wait and see if either will wear the green cap.
There was a sense of hope for Balochistan representation with the formation of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). On the 9th of September 2016, the Quetta Gladiators conquered Islamabad United in their first ever match of the PSL Dubai and the cricketers back home celebrated this victory hoping that they too, get a chance to at least represent Quetta in PSL’s forthcoming editions. This victory made people realize that there exists a city called Quetta, as the countrymen were less aware of this name due to zero representation in the cricketing world.
Nothing in the cricket world changed though.
Despite having a team named after Quetta, only 3 players from Balochistan have played in the whole of the PSL’s seven seasons. Season eight is around the corner and we are expecting more than one player from Balochistan will make it to the playing eleven. Abdul Wahid Bangulzai will represent Quetta Gladiators whereas Haseebullah Khan is all set to make his PSL debut and will be playing for the yellow storm, Peshawar Zalmi. If this happens, this will be the first season of PSL ever featuring more than one player from Balochistan.
Hopefully both these players will not only represent Balochistan in the national league but their performance will also open doors for upcoming talent from the province to represent Pakistan at the international level.
The PCB worked with government of Balochistan and allowed Quetta to host an exhibition match on February 5th, 2023 between the Gladiators versus 2017 champions Peshawar Zalmi in Quetta’s Nawab Akbar Khan cricket stadium before the PSL's eighth season begins. With tickets as low as 20 rupees, both the Board and government of Balochistan said that the exhibition match would be accessible to almost anyone in the region, but it was once again proven that this match was neither for the people of Balochistan nor for the cricketers of Balochistan. The event was handled very unprofessionally which will of course make the board think twice before planning such events in future.
The board only offered three or four free passes to each team in Quetta though, in spite of asking for clubs’ full roster information. The clubs had the opportunity and option to boycott the match and record their protest but as always no one either from the administration or from the clubs came forward. We wish and hope Baloch players will be given equal chances so they can go on to represent Pakistan at the world stage in the near future. May the PCB treat Balochistan as a proper prospect for future cricketers and as a site to host events. If the PCB organized events in Balochistan as professionally as they do in other areas of the country, the organization would be far more respected.