Daily Times

Pakistan staged its biggest cricket match in almost a decade at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore last week. A packed stadium watched the final of the Pakistan Super League between Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi. The second edition of the PSL came to an end with Zalmi winning the title against Gladiators in the landmark final. Like last year, Pakistan’s own cash-rich T20 league provided some great entertainment over the course of 25 days, where most of the games went down to the wire. Coming to the gains and losses of the PSL finale, the biggest loser was the contest itself since it lacked the competitive edge. Unfortunately, the expectations of an exhilarating final, which many had anticipated, died a natural death in cricketing terms given the disparity of the personnel available for the finalists. Quetta and Peshawar had a host of foreign players available for the final despite security fears having already scared off a host of international stars. Quetta had already seen English trio Kevin Pietersen, Luke Wright and Tymal Mills as well as South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw and Nathan McCullum of New Zealand refuse to play in Pakistan.

Many never had the experience of covering a game of cricket from inside a strongly guarded fortress – the Gaddafi Stadium – which was turned into for staging the PSL final as a showpiece event to emphasise to the world that Pakistan was now ready to host international teams once again. Desperate fans filled the ground to have an evening of fun after having gone through the pain and torture of securing an entry ticket in return of huge sums of money for the sake of watching a final of the tournament which itself was not held in Pakistan because of security reasons.

The successful holding of the final of this domestic league has given a hope to many, particularly to top Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and PSL officials, that it would restore faith in the country’s ability to safely host foreign teams. But, unfortunately, it won’t happened that easy and soon. But at the same time, one cannot deny the fact that the tournament had brought immense happiness to the mundane lives of many. The PSL cannot be compared to the Big Bash of Australia or the Indian Premier League and it doesn’t come even financially close to them but one can’t ignore its passion. PSL chairman Najam Sethi promised a final in Lahore and delivered it with an unqualified success. Therefore, he was a big winner.

Pakistan is one of the major cricket playing countries of the world and it indeed is no less than a tragedy that for more than seven years now, we have been unable to stage international cricket for reasons beyond our control. Inadequate efforts to bring sanity in the day to day working of the country have seen the governance systems faltering badly, primarily due to corruption and mismanagement at all levels, cricket inclusive. There had been much debate and criticism about hosting the PSL final in Pakistan and some of that made sense. The criticism was not because the critics were against international cricket to return to Pakistan but because the danger and the threat that was involved in taking such a risk. Pakistan has been starved of international cricket, apart from a short visit by the Zimbabwe in 2015.

It was just outside this ground almost exactly eight years ago that Pakistan cricket suffered its worst blow when the terrorists opened fire on a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers, killing eight people and wounding nine, including six visiting players. The attack effectively snuffed out international sporting fixtures at home, with no major teams visiting Pakistan since.

For the PSL final, the Pakistan Army and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had assured and did provide VIP-level security arrangements – normally reserved for state heads – for the teams. Thousands of police and troops patrolled the area around Gaddafi Stadium and military helicopters whirred overhead in heavy security. It was the highest-level game in Pakistan since 2009. But the big question is: would Pakistan be able to provide the same kind of security every time? May be not! You can not put curfew and cordon-off the entire city every time a cricket match, involving foreign players, is held in Pakistan, causing a big a nuisance and inconvenience to people. Do we have to call in the Army every time a cricket match is held in Pakistan? One wonders if the Pakistan Army intends to be invited to organise the next football World Cup? Well, at least the one in Qatar in 2022. There is no guarantee that the state’s arrangements will remain fool-proof. The state has deceived us many a time by saying it has broken the back of the terrorists. Victory against terrorism is not around the corner.

The state cannot guarantee the safety of everyone. We have seen this and still witnessing this for the last so many years. The law enforcement and security agencies have failed to stop their top officials from being killed by suicide bombers. If they can’t protect themselves, how can they protect anyone else? By holding the PSL final is not a rebuttal to terrorism. Normalcy is a fitting response to terrorism. If this, holding a domestic match, is what winning the war on terror looks like, I would hate to see defeat. Once normalcy returns to Pakistan, we can easily convince foreign teams to visit Pakistan. Under the circumstances, there’s not much chance of international cricket being restored.

No one should doubt the integrity and good faith of PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan and PSL chief Sethi and their attempts to bring international cricket home. Particularly, Sethi has campaigned admirably and sincerely. But his efforts won’t pay-off. The PCB and the PSL officials are loudly boasting and claiming that successful hosting the PSL final will bring international cricket back to Pakistan. Now this is an overstatement. If Pakistan is really a safe place for international cricketers then why such comprehensive arrangements were needed? We are a nation who just loves fantasizing!