Cricket's newest Twenty20 franchise league is now approaching the business end of its first season. From Tuesday begin the final seven games of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
We look back at some of the highlights, and lowlights, of an eventful first 11 days of the event.
Quetta: Underdog story
Of all the big cities in Pakistan, Quetta is probably the most marginalised. It was also the least expensive of the five franchises. So the success of Quetta Gladiators, already in the play-offs, has been the story of the tournament.
They are not really an underdog side, of course. No side with Kevin Pietersen in it and Viv Richards as a mentor can be.
But as capital of a troubled province, and perennially under-represented in the national conversation (only one player from Balochistan has ever played for Pakistan), it has been heartening to see Quetta do so well.
#Worldflop
Chris Gayle’s reputation as the poster-boy for franchise-hopping T20 specialists is well-earned but there are signs it may now be dimming. Leagues still think he is important to have commercially, that he adds lustre to their product.
But scores of six, nought, 37 and nought have added nothing for Lahore Qalandars, except as a reputation for the league’s Hollywood side, who prefer style to substance.
Rumours have floated questioning his commitment to the league, and when he missed a game, at one stage it was thought he would be flying back. His back has constrained his movement, as well.
The prospect of an imminent Gayle explosion always retains allure, but three dismissals in the first over of the innings are below par. And in a post-match interview on Saturday with Tom Moody, he ended by saying: “Cheers Tom, don’t blush Tom.”
That was in reference to his encounter with a female reporter in Australia, for which he was fined AU$10,000 (Dh26,115) and widely condemned.
He cackled loudly after saying it, too, suggesting that he does not feel the need for repentance.
Ball of the tournament
With due respect to all the balls and bowlers that are still to come in the league, it will be difficult, if not impossible to better Mohammed Asghar’s castling of Shane Watson last Friday in Sharjah.
Given that bowlers have felt more integral to this league than many others, there has been a bigger field to choose from.
The pace of Shaun Tait and Wahab Riaz has wrought some excellent wickets. Saeed Ajmal’s first-ball trapping of James Vince, with a regulation, cleared-action off-break was another memorable one.
But Asghar’s delivery that night in the fifth over was something else. Watson still presents an imposing, bullying obstacle at the crease. He is still capable of T20 brutality.
Asghar, who has been among the finds of the tournament, beat him with the kind of ball left-arm spinners dream about taking wickets with: some flight, late dip and curve, before tweaking away, eluding Watson’s defensive prod and clipping off-stump.
It was a delivery that would have been at home in a Test.
Retro Sharjah
For most of Friday, it felt like we were back in the late 80s and 90s. The road outside Sharjah’s stadium was choked not only with cars but a river of humanity making its way to the action.
There were so many people waiting outside that queues began to develop their own order – and queuing is not a Pakistani strong point. Those who attempted to jump the queue were shamed publicly into leaving and joining the back of the line. After a while no more could be let in.
Inside the stadium the stands were jam-packed so that it felt like an October Friday in 1989, with Pakistan and India set to take each other on soon after Friday prayers. Except, with four Pakistani teams playing, nobody was going to go home unhappy.
There was a din throughout the day, but the roar when Shahid Afridi arrived at the ground – not to the crease or even on to the field – but just to the ground to make his way towards the dressing rooms, was unreal.
Memo to England
There is a fair sprinkling of English talent, new and used, through the league. James Vince, with Karachi, and Sam Billings, with Islamabad, are firmly in England’s T20 plans.
Both are in the World Twenty20 squad as well and undoubtedly better for prolonged exposure to spin in conditions somewhat similar to what they may face in India.
But there are also three more familiar faces here, doing pretty well for themselves.
Kevin Pietersen has not played a substantial innings just yet, but he has contributed on as well as off the field significantly. His Quetta teammate Luke Wright, also ignored by England, has also been a factor in Quetta topping the table.
Trumping them all though is another recent England discard.
Who would have thought before the PSL began that Bopara would be third-highest run-scorer and joint top wicket-taker more than halfway in?
England’s limited-overs resurgence has gone better than expectations, but perhaps there is some fuel in these legs, too?
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
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