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The Pakistan Super League Captains pictured together with the trophy at the opening ceremony.
As we all know Pakistan is a cricket deprived nation – which means the sports stadium in Pakistan are empty and hadn’t witnessed any appearance of International Team or Player almost over a last decade. This unfortunate scene came into being when the Sri Lankan team was attacked in Lahore and after that the doors of International Cricket Hosting were closed in Pakistan for an indefinite period. There is no doubt that Pakistan Cricket Board Officials and Government Officials putted their effort to bring back the gorgeousness of cricket in our grounds. The exemplary effort was shown when All stars XI came to Karachi under the captaincy of Sanath Jayasuriya and played 3 T20 matches against the Pakistan XI. After that recently in 2015, the Zimbabwe cricket team visited Pakistan and played 3 ODI’s and 2 T20’s at Qaddafi Stadium Lahore. But it all proved very less to open the doors of International Cricket. Though the jam packed crowd at Lahore were showing this nation proved themselves to be a peaceful and sports loving country and made crystal clear that sports has a very perfect place in their heart. Although in the tenure of 2009 to present, Pakistani team has faced several difficulties, unfortunates, regression, scandals in the form of Spot fixing scandal who ate the career of our 3 top players. But the beauty of the sport remains alive in our hearts, having no cricket at home grounds, the Pakistan Cricket team continued their journey of rise and fall. They won ICC World T20 2009 with an unpredictable performance, they reached in the semi-finals of ICC World Cup 2011 and more than that Pakistan became the number one test team for the first time in history for which ICC rewarded the prestigious test mace to Misbah-ul-Haq captain of Pakistan’s test team.
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Misbah-ul-Haq with the prestigous test mace awarded by the ICC.
Now in 2017, the cricket world has totally transformed and changed. The T20 leagues have brought more charge and charm to cricket, especially for the fans who following it. The cricket has completely evolved and the Twenty overs cricket got more viewership than the other forms of cricket. Fans and viewers usually enjoy more sixes and fours in T20 because it takes less time to produce results as compared to the ODI’s and test which are a game of nerve and patience.
Like the Indian Premier League (IPL), Big Bash league (BBL), Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and many others holds the party of amazing competitions in a year where International players from all around the World participates and provides a source of enjoyment to the respective fans and viewers, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has also decided to arrange the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in which five teams with the name of five Pakistan’s major cities will take place and plays with each other. This will not only provide a source of enjoyment for the fans and viewers across the Pakistan and the World but will also help Pakistan to polish the upcoming talent and emerging players who shared the dressing room with International players and coaches.
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These are the five teams of PSL with their names and logo pictured above.
But when the Pakistan Cricket Board came up with this idea in 2015, it was almost looking impossible for them to arrange this. The major obstacle in their way was the place where it will going to be played. Like the other Countries and Cricket Boards who hosts their leagues in their countries are very easy for them to organize and to generate the revenue. But a country like Pakistan who isn’t eligible to host the International Cricket since a decade is very difficult to arrange a league of this type. The PCB officials took this task to perform and complete at any cost. Due to this, PCB decided to hold Pakistan Super League (PSL) in Doha, Qatar and then replaced its venue at Sharjah, Dubai, U.A.E as there will be more crowd comes to watch. Although it wasn’t easy for anyone to organize a cricket league away from their country, but with the day-in and day-out efforts of PCB officials, the Pakistan Cricket Board officially resulted their efforts in the form of Pakistan Super League (PSL).
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Above is the picture of Dubai Cricket Stadium which was filled with colors with the magnificent fireworks at the opening ceremony of inaugural PSL.
The inaugural PSL had been kicked-off, the cricket fans of Pakistan get wilder as they received first good news about cricket in a decade. Many big International names like Gayle, Pietersen, Watson were participating in it. The PSL was now the official brand of Pakistan and every Pakistani. From the day PSL was started, a wave of happiness and craziness had been found in the people of Pakistan. The inaugural PSL edition received marvelous viewership around the globe and people in Pakistan belonging to their respective cities and province were shown fully support to their team by their merchandise, jerseys and caps. Five franchise based teams Karachi Kings, Islamabad United, Lahore Qalandars, Quetta Gladiators and Peshwar Zalmi were a part of PSL. Out which Islamabad United managed to win the title after beating Quetta Gladiators in the Final at Dubai Cricket Stadium. The inaugural PSL has proven very successful and rated very highly in the International World. Moreover, players like Sharjeel Khan, Muhammad Nawaz and Hassan Ali emerged in this league which later represented Pakistan at the International level.
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Islamabad United celebrating their inaugural PSL victory.
Video source: youtube.com
The opening ceremony of the inaugural PSL.
Another year of Madness…
The first edition of PSL successfully came to an end last year with a jam-packed crowd at Dubai Sports City. PCB this time, followed the footprints marked by itself in the last year, PCB decided to organize Pakistan Super League 2. But this PSL has something different and very surprising, the PSL chairman had announced that the final of Pakistan Super League will hold in Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. As this statement was given by Mr. Najam Sethi, the people in Pakistan got curious as it was unable for them to believe.
9th February, 2017, the day came when Pakistan Super League 2 kicked off with a heartwarming opening ceremony featured in Dubai Sports City in which the traditions of all four provinces of Pakistan was highlighted with their traditional songs and cultural value. Moreover, the Pakistani singers Ali Zafar and Shahzad Roy along with Jamaican star Shaggy rocked the stage with their amazing voice.
Video source: youtube.com
The opening ceremony of Pakistan Super League second edition.
PSL started with its charm, but the unlucky thing was this time PSL has some controversy, yes the controversy was about Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif the top 2 current players of defending champions Islamabad United who were sacked immediately after receiving some reports of having interaction with a bookie and executing the plan of spot-fixing according to the wish of that bookie. The Pakistan Cricket Board, by taking prompt action sent them back to Pakistan till the completion of investigation against them. Except this incident, all went superb and on the spot, this PSL has witnessed some more thrilling matches than the last edition, some nail-bitter finishes, some unpredictable turns and more than that the crowd has seen their hero Shahid Afridi starring and performing with its dynamic style in front of them.
Four teams out of five were able to qualify for the playoffs excluding Lahore Qalandars. In the first match of Qualifiers Quetta Gladiators had beaten Peshawar Zalmi by 1 run with a nail biting performance. Whereas in the second match match of eliminator where 1 team had to eliminate after loosing, Karachi Kings were getting able to beat the defending champions Islamabad United and kicked out it from the race of of the finals. Peshawar Zalmi, who had beaten by Quetta Gladiators closely in the first match of the playoffs had to fight against the winning side Karachi Kings. With tornado like batting from Kamran Akmal, who had scored an amazing century helped Zalmi to beat Kings easily by 26 runs. With the completion of this match, it was all clear that Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators were the two teams who went to the finals which will be played in Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.
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A fan holding a banner by giving message to the world.
For me, the main round starts from the end of the playoffs. All International players of Quetta Gladiators have refused to go to Lahore due to security concerns. The whole crew, including the people of Pakistan were in curiosity that either International players would come or not? The Peshawar Zalmi International players proved everyone wrong and decided that they will go Lahore and plays the final. After their announcement, a wave of layer had been spread among the people of Lahore as they are going to see the Internationals players playing in front of them. Not only the people of Lahore, but the whole Pakistan was eagerly waiting for the 5th March when the Final scheduled to kick-off.
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The two finalists lining up at the PSL final played at Lahore.
5th March Sunday, probably the best day for Pakistan in the years when every person and every news channel was linked with the PSL final coverage and discussion. The local people have started to gather around the stadium since the afternoon. It was a jam packed stadium filled with the 30,000 spectators roaring Pakistan Zindabad slogans. Before the start of the final match, a closing ceremony was held in which the whole nation paid tribute to the martyrs and remembered their sacrifices. The outstanding part of the closing ceremony was that when the Former Captain of West Indies and two times World T20 winner Darren Sammy came on the stage and amazed the spectators with his jubilant dancing skills.
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Darren Sammy dancing with Hassan Ali at the closing cermony of PSL 2.
As a cricket fan…
Image source: PSL Twitter
Crowd at Gaddafi Stadium showing their love for cricket.
What was looking impossible would’ve become a reality, the first and last ball of the PSL final had been bowled in a very colorful, pleasant and peaceful atmosphere. Though Peshawar Zalmi had easily defeated Quetta Gladiators single handedly, but truly it was Pakistan and Pakistani’s who had won by defeating terrorism and their cowardly attacks. They had just shown the World that their passion is far better and bigger than the terrorists. The Pakistan Super League has been watched by billions of people all around the world and gets in the race of World famous leagues with its only two editions which was played outside Pakistan.
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Peshawar Zalmi celebrating their victory of Pakistan Super League.
Being a citizen of Karachi, I was supporting Karachi Kings who made to the second playoffs, but couldn’t get succeed to reach the finals (beaten by Peshawar Zalmi) . This HBL PSL has proven to be a splendid festival near me and all the Pakistan. Those 25 days of PSL cricket had given us a chance to enjoy and cherish the moments as much as we can. The dramatic contests and nail bitter and thrilling matches took everyone into its craze, no matter they were children, women, man and older people all of their eyes were stuck towards the Pakistan Super League. To support your own team by wearing its jersey or cap, by doing a banter of which team is well balanced, to do an analysis of the last night’s contest on workplace, schools or somewhere else, that is what Pakistan Super League was all about.
