The auctioning off of two more franchises in the Pakistan Super League marked the expansion of the country’s premier tournament by the Pakistan Cricket Board from six teams to eight. Both teams have been bought by overseas Pakistanis who have made their pile,, with the winning bid for the Sialkot franchise coming from an Australia-based company, and the one for the Hyderabad franchise coming from a USA-based Pakistani. Both chose to base the teams in their native cities. There is still one franchise which will be auctioned off, the Multan Sultans, whose owner had relinquished his franchise after a highly public war of words. Will the quality of domestic cricket improve with the new franchises, and will the PSL become a better T20 tournament? It was perhaps a tribute to the PSL that the auction coincided with Pakistan’ first T20 against Sri Lanka, which Pakistan won handsomely.
The role of T20 cricket in the overall game is often debated, but there is a consensus that it has brought a rapidity of scoring and a willingness to play more joyously, than had been observed when Test cricket monopolised the game. The effect is best observed in modern Test cricket, with England being the most articulate exponent, though its 3-1 defeat to the Ashes might indicate that Australia has learnt a thing or two from its own Big Bash League. Pakistan has found in franchise cricket a worthy successor to the old departmental teams, which still play a Patron’s Trophy. The departmental teams were supposed to provide players financial rewards, and the departments the privilege of serving the sport. Not only do the franchises pay the players well, they also pay the PCB substantial sums.
The auctions does not solve the problems that led to the Multan Sultans losing their owner. Does the PCB call the shots or the franchise owners. In the USA, which has the most developed franchise system, especially in American football and baseball, the sport’s governing body is merely an instrument for the owners, having no will of its own. So long as the PCB continues to be a government department with its head appointed by the PM, this will not happen. The PCB should also realize that while expanding the PSL may at the moment be profitable, the fans’ main expectation is that it develop a successful national team, or rather three successful national teams. No one expects champions in each format, but a pepper development of potential is only something that both players and fans deserve. Only if this is achieved does the PSL expansion mean anything.
