The PSL is late and incomplete

Pakistan has launched its own domestic league. People are excited. International stars are going to play in it and with that, a mix of experienced and young domestic Pakistani cricketers get a chance to play in it. It seems enticing with all those advertisements and lucrative biddings.

Looking at it from a distance the PSL is something Pakistani fans are proud of but that is only because they do not see the larger picture. Pakistanis are passionate about cricket and although hockey is their national sport, cricket has taken its place non-officially.

Timing of PSL incorrect?

They are ecstatic about seeing their own stars in a league full of glamour and glory. They are also happy about the fact that the younger generation will get the chance to share dressing rooms with cricket stars and which will be helpful in making them more accustomed to the international. They do not understand the part where PCB generates revenue from the league and that is a very big positive.

If they look at it from a little less distance and try to think about the PSL then they might get the idea that the PSL is late indeed. Comparing it to leagues that other cricketing nations are hosting will be a good enough estimate to give an idea of how late the PSL is.

The inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League took place in the year 2008, approximately eight years ago. Since then the IPL has been played eight times and there has been some experimentation in that span of time.

India has become a cricket wealthy nation since the IPL started and now, as a result, we see where India is. No matter how much India thank the IPL it will never be enough because they have gained in huge bulks from it, from grooming younger players to making money in billions and trillions.

The Australian Big Bash League is ongoing with its fifth season. The Bangladesh Premier League was initiated in 2012 and since then it has helped Bangladesh Cricket a lot commercially.

The Caribbean Premier League had its third season played earlier this year; the Sri Lankan editions has also been played once in 2012 and not since then for some reasons. In New Zealand, cricket is not such a popular sport but still they do have their own domestic T20 leagues around.

England has their NatWest T20 Blast and South Africa has a lot of T20 tournaments going around, the most prominent one of which has been the Ram Slam T20 Challenge. The PSL is late, every cricketing country has launched its own league years ago and Pakistan just woke up in 2015-16.

Only Zimbabwe does not have their own leagues. Well, Zimbabwe is a very poor nation and they can surely not afford to have their own league. By looking at all of this one comes to the conclusion that Pakistan is only ahead of Zimbabwe.

Why the PSL is incomplete

The PSL is not complete either. They have done it all right and correct by at last taking the step to launch it, then having a format for the tournament, then naming the franchises and having the bidding processes and also the marketing and what not. They still cannot host it in Pakistan.

Okay, so the league isn’t happening in their homeland Pakistan and taking place in UAE, so what are these crazy fans actually happy about? Not everyone is extremely wealthy to go to UAE and pay for these matches to watch it.

What does it in actual have for the Pakistani fans? Not much except for seeing their heroes and the glamour on a television screen just like they can in the Big Bash or the BPL or the Caribbean Premier League for that matter. It is not complete.

In the end, the conclusion is that the PSL is late, in fact very late, and also not in its complete form yet. The Pakistani fans maybe will have to wait for another ten years to see the league happen in their own homeland, maybe longer than that.