Daily Times

For years, Pakistan had not hosted a single game at home because of the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers’ busin Lahore. The Pakistan Super League (PSL) launched in 2016 and became an instant hit in and outside Pakistan. The real success came with PSL 2017when the final was played in Lahore. A World XI squad then toured Pakistan in September 2017for a T20 series marking the return of high profile international cricket to the country. In a gesture overflowing with symbolism, the Sri Lankans played the last of their T20s away series in Lahore in October.

The good news about the 2019 edition is that the PCB is trying to host the opening ceremony in Pakistan, the bad news is that including the final in Karachi — on March 17,only eight matches are to be played in Pakistan. If the country is safe enough to host eight matches, does it make any sense to host the remaining 30 odd matches in the UAE? In March 2018,Ramiz Raja made some rather ridiculous suggestions about attracting better cricketers to PSL and about what needed to be done to fill up the stadiums in Dubai and Sharjah. His brainchild “hiring international tour operators to take fans from Pakistan to the UAE to fill up stadiums” was sheer nonsense. I wrote in one of my previous articles, “Can the foreign exchange-strapped Pakistan afford the luxury of their cricket-starved citizens spending hard earned foreign exchange on hotels, meals and taxis in cash-rich Dubai for nearly one month long tournaments?”

Among the handful of Pakistani commentators acceptable to the Indian Premier League (IPL) where Pakistani cricketers are not welcome, was Rameez Raja campaigning on India’s behalf to keep the PSL from being staged in Pakistan. On the one hand you have Finance Minister Asad Umar struggling in the face of an economic crisis, clamping down on imports to save precious foreign exchange, very rightly carrying out PM Imran Khan’s instructions about an austerity campaign.  On the other, we have Imran’s former teammate Rameez Raja strongly recommending that we throw more cash overseas.

Speaking at the PSL 2017 Final, the PCB authorities should have given more than a passing mention on the role of security agencies and the tremendous sacrifice rendered by our soldiers and policemen over the years to make Karachi (and Pakistan) safe. Lest we forget, it is our martyrs who made the ultimate sacrifice and made it possible for cricket to return home. Not the “Yatra” recommended by Rameez Raja.

Moreover, what impression does the world get when PCB doesn’t hold the PSL in Pakistan? This graphically suggests that our security establishment is not confident about preserving the peace in Pakistan that is in line with and India’s propaganda against Pakistan. It is highly ironic that PCB is inadvertently funding an ongoing anti-Pakistan campaign.

The huge rentals that PCB doles out forUAE Stadiums should be diverted to improving the cricket stadiums in this country

Thanks to the dispensation afforded to militant political activists in Karachi by General Musharraf in 2000, armed criminal gangs took over entire localities in Karachi, with MQM’s sector offices acting as enforcement arms for Altaf Hussain. The city became a violent hub of organised crime. It wasn’t until the 2010’s that action began to be taken to clean up this mess. Thanks to the efforts of our military, Rangers and the Sindh police, Karachi is a much safer city today than it was in the previous decade.

PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani brings with him a wealth of experience, having served in executive capacities in various cricket bodies. He has said that he would like the entire PSL to be played in Pakistan from 2020, Ehsan Mani should do so from the 2019 edition. In 2018 when the last three matches were played in Pakistan, as many as 18 international players participated from the West Indies, England, South Africa, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and England. Cricket commentators from South Africa, Australia, the West Indies and England were also there. The stadiums for these three matches were jam-packed with hardly any space left to fill. Taking the success of PSL 2018 and foreign cricketers’ participation as the yardstick, one can be sure that with the money saved from the logistics being presently gifted to the UAE would be diverted to enhance their remuneration and encourage more foreign players to play in Pakistan.

Not only would this cost the PCB at least ten times less as compared to the UAE, this will also directly and indirectly provide a boost to the local economy. The PCB will stand to earn more in revenues than what it will in the UAE where stadiums are always almost empty. The huge rentals that PCB doles out for UAE Stadiums should be diverted to improving the cricket stadiums in Pakistan. In fact let the big banks making big money bid to provide this service. This will also enable PCB to pay more to athletes and thus attract more high profile cricketers. And what about the indirect benefit this will give to hundreds of businesses in the cities where the matches will be played? In 2018,PCB earned a profit of $5 million from the PSL, not taking into account earnings from television rights, this will increase manifold if the entire tournament is played in Pakistan.

For a country that is scarred by several decades of terrorism, the collective activity of the masses cheering for their teams and favourite players will both heal and bind the nation. Sports rekindle dormant patriotism and evokes it to cement the unity of the nation. Above all, it will go a long way in negating the “Hybrid warfare” being staged by India to isolate Pakistan in sports. Unfortunately PCB has become an inadvertent tool in the hands of Indian machinations and their agents. The ball is now in Ehsan Mani’s court, no more PSLs abroad please.

The writer is a defence and security analyst

Published in Daily Times, September 20^th 2018.