UAE-based Pakistan Super League – ‘the biggest thing that has hit Pakistan cricket’

As the PSL’s franchises begin to assemble player squads, excitement mounts over what it can bring to the PCB and the nation, writes Osman Samiuddin.

Australia batsman Shane Watson, right, has been drafted by Islamabad United for the inaugural PSL. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

Monday, at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, marked what Pakistan cricket hopes will be the start of a new, more prosperous era for the sport in the country.

The first of a two-day player draft for the Pakistan Super League (PSL) ended with several of cricket’s biggest names, including Kevin Pietersen, Chris Gayle and Shane Watson, recruited by the five Pakistani franchises contesting the inaugural edition in the UAE in February.

Fittingly, perhaps, given the format, his status and standing as a Pathan public figure, Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi was the first player picked, by the Peshawar Zalmi franchise.

In the style of most American sports, that first pick was the result of a trade between Peshawar and Islamabad United, who had been drawn to make the first pick.

Gallery: Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik and the pick-by-pick stars of the Pakistan Super League

Organisers have chosen a draft system to allocate players rather than the more traditional auction other Twenty20 leagues have used, in a bid, they say, to ensure a more level playing field.

In all, 45 of a pool of 310 players were picked by teams on the first day. The biggest names were the first picks, in the Platinum category — after Afridi, Karachi Kings picked Shoaib Malik, Islamabad United picked Watson, the Quetta Gladiators took Pietersen and Gayle went to Lahore Qalandars.

There are four categories below that — Diamond, Gold, Silver and Emerging — based on the perceived values of players.

There was also another step in the ongoing rehabilitation of Mohammed Amir. The fast bowler, who was banned in 2010 for five years for spot-fixing, was picked 31st by Karachi.

It will be the bigger picture that will be more important to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)

They have been trying, with fluctuating degrees of commitment, for over seven years to start up a franchise-based Twenty20 league of their own.

For various reasons they have been unable to do so, until this year when they have finally benefited from administrative stability and a clarity of vision of the way they want the league to be.

Officials see it as vital to the fortunes of a board that has not only been unable to host matches inside Pakistan for security reasons, but also has not been able to host a series with India.

Both have heavily compromised the board’s financial status, brought home again recently by an ultimately unsuccessful chase of a bilateral series with India.

The board hopes that over the next decade, the PSL can earn it profits of up to US$50 million (Dh183.6m), the combined revenue the PCB will earn from the franchise fee alone over that period is $93m.

“Five years down the line the PSL will be galloping along, it will be the biggest thing that has hit Pakistan cricket,” Najam Sethi, the league chief, told The National in an interview to be published in full on Tuesday. “And if it is all happening in Pakistan it will be the most exciting event of the year. This is my guarantee.”

Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE

Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport