The purpose of domestic T20 cricket leagues in my opinion is
1. Create a source of income for the board.
2. Introduce a new set of audience to cricket before graduating the said audience to ODI's and eventually to test cricket. This helps in increasing the global appeal, longer overseas and home test tours, and bargaining power.
3. Create a domestic arena that gives young cricketers a really stern test that's as close as possible in quality to international cricket if not similar or higher.
4. Introduce professionalism in the system by introducing private investors who run the franchises like well-oiled machines eliminating complacency and creating a new breed of elite athletes.
5. Providing youngsters with a fair opportunity to aim for, one that gives them a chance for a good livelihood and stable future that is hard to attain but not as hard as international cricket where only twenty or so are successful. Now you don't need to be top thirty, but even if you are top sixty you have a chance thus doubling the opportunity.
From where I see it, this is what's happening right now.
1. Revenue increase? On the surface, yes, but underlying, it's super complicated. It has helped PCB to make revenue in the short term. The broadcast deals are still a mess, the franchises are still unhappy, and the long-term future is still in the doldrums. Maybe a thirty percent success here however the future outlook is not rosy and there are a lot of future puzzles, challenges, and risks.
2. Introduction of a new audience? Again on the surface, yes, but the moment you dig deep, you realize the problems are manifolds and alarming. The new audience does get introduced to the sport but is it really graduating to the next level? Have we seen an increase in the profile of PCB in any significant manner and are nations willing to give us more than two tests home or away? I feel that these people are becoming seasonal fans, instead, the worrying part is that some of the hardcore fans are also now taking interest in PCT only during the two months of PSL. Maybe when fans are allowed into stadia, this will change as people will see their heroes play in flesh but for the foreseeable future, this doesn't seem like happening so it's again nothing positive for the league.
3. Shaping the rough diamonds? Major no. The youngsters that are being produced are becoming single-dimensional hacks in batting, and one-trick-ponies in bowling. They have no motivation to move onto any other form of cricket. Take the example of Hasnain, he's been in the circuit for almost three years now and they still can't play him FC or test cricket because his fitness isn't up to the mark. Azam Khan, Umer, Asghar, Dilbar, Rauf, are all examples of this. Naseem wants to play another season of the short form and has his runup has already been curtailed to have "longevity". Rumman played one season despite being unfit and then moved away into obscurity. There's also a fear that the few starlets that we have will be ground to dust in this league with Lahore being the prime culprit who has their entire strategy built around running Shaheen Shah ragged. He played with a niggle through half of the tournament, the one bowler we have who may go on to become a sub thirty average test bowler. The other's Babar, whose every run scored in this inconsequential cricket is a dagger straight through the heart of the purists. Cricketers have repetitive stress injuries and no one's immune even if you are the best, having a tennis elbow injury because of this to your premier player is criminal.
4. Increase in professionalism? An even bigger no for this point. Franchises are being operated like families and empires instead of ruthless clubs where managers are fired mid tournament if the team loses three matches on the trot. Omar associates have Moeen, Sarfaraz, & a non-cricketer selector as their unholy trinity. Lahore has the dangerous duo of Rana and straight from the prehistoric era Aqib (trust me I am the coach). Peshawar doesn't even need two people to run the show with the all-encompassing Afridi calling all the shots and pretending that he's just there as a good luck charm. The support staff for all the franchises is lethargic and instead of fixing technical issues, mentors are hired that are high-fiving players if they do well and pretending to be sad when the players fail. Where are the nutritionists, mental conditioning coaches, life-coaches, and yoga experts who are supposed to polish these rough diamonds into million-dollar entities? Lahore was bottom, four editions on the trot with the worst win percentage in the history of franchise cricket yet they still have the same management even in the sixth edition. Go figure.
5. Fair opportunity? I can't be sure about this but from what I have read from [MENTION=9]Saj[/MENTION] & [MENTION=93712]MenInG[/MENTION], I feel that there's a lot of wheeling-dealing in the background. Hasan asked to be released and then was picked as platinum by United. Azam Khan maybe a name now but we need to remember that he played two or three editions of the tournament just on potential and his connections with Omar Associates and their coach. If we can't let merit rule supreme here, then there's literally no need for a draft anyway. Teams can just announce the deals that they have secured with the players and get it done with saving everyone's time. Why spend four hours on a futile exercise if all the decisions are preplanned?
We really need fresh faces and new ideologies to get involved in this tournament otherwise PSL will start sinking and may even drag our cricket lower than it already is.
