Homegrown Pakistan enter T20 cricket’s premier league

[Savak]

It’s probably heresy to even think it, but could the Pakistan Super League, a six-year-old six-team domestic competition, be the world’s strongest Twenty20 nursery?

Orthodox logic says no. Of course the Indian Premier League, the all-star pageant that claims to be cricket’s NBA, NFL and Champions League rolled in together, has raised the income of every participant and the standard of the 20-over format as a whole.

Pakistan is through to the T20 World Cup final after beating New Zealand by seven wickets in the semi-final

Innovation in cricket has been turbocharged by the IPL, where the best of the best are challenged to produce their best, under pressure, in an annual whirlwind of noise, music and dollars. If you’re not in the IPL, as Paul Keating might say, you’re camping out.

And yet the young Pakistan team, none of whom are permitted to play in the IPL, came up with another performance, this time in Wednesday’s T20 World Cup semi-final at the Sydney Cricket Ground against New Zealand, to suggest that the IPL is not, or not exclusively, where it’s at.

Whether it was Shadab Khan’s brilliant direct-hit run out of Devon Conway, the clever and varied bowling from the four-man pace attack, or the spin craft of Shadab and Mohammad Nawaz, Pakistan again proved that they play their Twenty20 cricket better than just about anyone on the globe. To cap it off, their two best-credentialed batters, openers Babar Azam (53 off 42 balls) and Mohammad Rizwan (57 off 43), finally opened the valves and set up a convincing victory. In the end, they were steered home by Mohammad Haris (30 off 26), one of their four under-23 youth picks, who has only played his cricket inside Pakistan and a mere 25 PSL games at that. On Sunday, Haris will bat at first-drop in a World Cup final.


Haris Rauf is quick to react to teammate Shadab Khan’s stunning run-out of Devon Conway.CREDIT:AP

All 11 of the star-studded New Zealand team have IPL experience; none of the Pakistanis. Due to India’s ban on Pakistan players, which has been in force since the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008, the IPL’s first year, Babar’s team have had to grow their T20 nous either by finding gigs in Twenty20 leagues around the world or purely inside Pakistan.

Their youngest members of the current squad possess a tiny fraction of the T20 experience of their opponents in this World Cup. A few weeks ago, in the highlight of the tournament, Pakistan outplayed India’s galacticos for 39 of 40 overs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Their eclipse of the Kiwis brought to mind those old rugby league games when NSW Country came to town and, on this same patch of turf, towelled up the City glamour boys. When they do get a bit more exposure to this T20 caper, Pakistan will be pretty good.

Their most effective bowlers on Wednesday were left-arm beanpole Shaheen Shah Afridi (2/24 from four overs), the evergreen Haris Rauf (0/32) and teenager Naseem Shah (0/30). Rauf has played some BBL for the Melbourne Stars, Afridi nothing outside the PSL, Naseem only PSL plus a season in the Caribbean league.

As with several of their teammates, they are IPL squillionaires only in their dreams. Without the new-ball swing they have enjoyed in other venues, they tied down the strong Kiwi top order with excellent control of their lengths, a mixture of cutters and slower balls, and game plans as precisely tailored as if they knew the batters from years in the IPL.

The fielding – also brought up almost entirely on PSL fields - was as athletic as any seen in the tournament so far. Kane Williamson (46 off 42 balls) and Daryl Mitchell (53 not out off 35) batted only as well as the Pakistanis allowed, which is to say, more watchfully than they would have wished. New Zealand kept wickets in hand but were unable to convert them into runs.

For a semi-final, it was surprisingly one-sided. Pakistan outclassed New Zealand as thoroughly as New Zealand had outclassed Australia here in the tournament opener last month and, like that game, this one was decided early. This coming Sunday in Melbourne, whether they end up playing IPL-rich India or IPL-rich England, Pakistan have a chance to make their point in the most definitive way.

So what gives? Pakistan won a T20 World Cup in 2009, before 13 years of IPL exclusion set in. Now they have a chance to win their second, against India or England. Does Pakistan’s quality suggest that the IPL is not quite the cut above the rest that it ought to be, or has the PSL snuck beneath world cricket’s radar to be, pound for pound and rupee for rupee, the best school for this form of cricket?

As long as India maintains its political ban on Pakistan players, the question will remain unanswered. International players, including Australians, who have participated in the PSL have been saying quietly for a few years that the cricket there is on par with the IPL. As thousands of Pakistan fans kept standing in lines outside the SCG long after the start of play can testify, they have had to learn how to wait and to be cut out of the magic circle; and while waiting, to make their sport in their own way. Once they got in, both on the field and off, they were the dominant presence.

Malcolm Knox is a journalist, author and columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.

Link: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricke...Deyw9Qb4oV-Zqdr9FvsefNDugU#Echobox=1668029973

 

[Kianig89]

WOW the decibel of slaps by the Journo to BCCI is being echoed here in my room absolutely, IPL without Pakistan players is football without messi and ronaldo

 

[TheNightWatchman]

Homegrown Pakistan enter T20 cricket’s premier league

Malcolm Knox

November 10, 2022 — 8.05am

It’s probably heresy to even think it, but could the Pakistan Super League, a six-year-old six-team domestic competition, be the world’s strongest Twenty20 nursery?

Orthodox logic says no. Of course the Indian Premier League, the all-star pageant that claims to be cricket’s NBA, NFL and Champions League rolled in together, has raised the income of every participant and the standard of the 20-over format as a whole.

Pakistan is through to the T20 World Cup final after beating New Zealand by seven wickets in the semi-final

Innovation in cricket has been turbocharged by the IPL, where the best of the best are challenged to produce their best, under pressure, in an annual whirlwind of noise, music and dollars. If you’re not in the IPL, as Paul Keating might say, you’re camping out.

And yet the young Pakistan team, none of whom are permitted to play in the IPL, came up with another performance, this time in Wednesday’s T20 World Cup semi-final at the Sydney Cricket Ground against New Zealand, to suggest that the IPL is not, or not exclusively, where it’s at.

Whether it was Shadab Khan’s brilliant direct-hit run out of Devon Conway, the clever and varied bowling from the four-man pace attack, or the spin craft of Shadab and Mohammad Nawaz, Pakistan again proved that they play their Twenty20 cricket better than just about anyone on the globe. To cap it off, their two best-credentialed batters, openers Babar Azam (53 off 42 balls) and Mohammad Rizwan (57 off 43), finally opened the valves and set up a convincing victory. In the end, they were steered home by Mohammad Haris (30 off 26), one of their four under-23 youth picks, who has only played his cricket inside Pakistan and a mere 25 PSL games at that. On Sunday, Haris will bat at first-drop in a World Cup final.


Haris Rauf is quick to react to teammate Shadab Khan’s stunning run-out of Devon Conway.CREDIT:AP

All 11 of the star-studded New Zealand team have IPL experience; none of the Pakistanis. Due to India’s ban on Pakistan players, which has been in force since the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008, the IPL’s first year, Babar’s team have had to grow their T20 nous either by finding gigs in Twenty20 leagues around the world or purely inside Pakistan.

Their youngest members of the current squad possess a tiny fraction of the T20 experience of their opponents in this World Cup. A few weeks ago, in the highlight of the tournament, Pakistan outplayed India’s galacticos for 39 of 40 overs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Their eclipse of the Kiwis brought to mind those old rugby league games when NSW Country came to town and, on this same patch of turf, towelled up the City glamour boys. When they do get a bit more exposure to this T20 caper, Pakistan will be pretty good.

Their most effective bowlers on Wednesday were left-arm beanpole Shaheen Shah Afridi (2/24 from four overs), the evergreen Haris Rauf (0/32) and teenager Naseem Shah (0/30). Rauf has played some BBL for the Melbourne Stars, Afridi nothing outside the PSL, Naseem only PSL plus a season in the Caribbean league.

As with several of their teammates, they are IPL squillionaires only in their dreams. Without the new-ball swing they have enjoyed in other venues, they tied down the strong Kiwi top order with excellent control of their lengths, a mixture of cutters and slower balls, and game plans as precisely tailored as if they knew the batters from years in the IPL.

The fielding – also brought up almost entirely on PSL fields - was as athletic as any seen in the tournament so far. Kane Williamson (46 off 42 balls) and Daryl Mitchell (53 not out off 35) batted only as well as the Pakistanis allowed, which is to say, more watchfully than they would have wished. New Zealand kept wickets in hand but were unable to convert them into runs.

For a semi-final, it was surprisingly one-sided. Pakistan outclassed New Zealand as thoroughly as New Zealand had outclassed Australia here in the tournament opener last month and, like that game, this one was decided early. This coming Sunday in Melbourne, whether they end up playing IPL-rich India or IPL-rich England, Pakistan have a chance to make their point in the most definitive way.

So what gives? Pakistan won a T20 World Cup in 2009, before 13 years of IPL exclusion set in. Now they have a chance to win their second, against India or England. Does Pakistan’s quality suggest that the IPL is not quite the cut above the rest that it ought to be, or has the PSL snuck beneath world cricket’s radar to be, pound for pound and rupee for rupee, the best school for this form of cricket?

As long as India maintains its political ban on Pakistan players, the question will remain unanswered. International players, including Australians, who have participated in the PSL have been saying quietly for a few years that the cricket there is on par with the IPL. As thousands of Pakistan fans kept standing in lines outside the SCG long after the start of play can testify, they have had to learn how to wait and to be cut out of the magic circle; and while waiting, to make their sport in their own way. Once they got in, both on the field and off, they were the dominant presence.

Malcolm Knox is a journalist, author and columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.

Link: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricke...Deyw9Qb4oV-Zqdr9FvsefNDugU#Echobox=1668029973

No doubt in my mind that the PSL has played a part in Pakistan's recent successes in T20s. Star performers like Haris Rauf and Shadab who at this point are pretty much permanent squad members came from that lot. I would even attribute Rizwans career turnaround and success post 2019 to PSL.

The pace attack and quality of pacers in the league is of considerable standard when compared to other minor leagues and is corroborated by overseas players who also play/played the IPL. The pace attack Pakistan carries right now is because of what the PSL was able to do.

 

[Mamoon]

“Due to India’s ban on Pakistan players, which has been in force since the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008”

Pakistani players were not banned in 2008. They were banned in 2010 after PCB barred the players from participating in the 2009 edition.

It was a politically motivated maneuver in reaction to India blaming ISI for orchestrating Mumbai attacks.

It was a stunt that backfired in spectacular fashion. Pakistan was the world champions in T20s, their heads were in the clouds and they thought that barring Pakistani players from participating in the tournament would hurt the IPL.

In 2010, when PCB got over its shallow arrogance and made its players available for auction again, the IPL franchises gave a befitting response and ignored all Pakistani players.

It was humiliating for the players but it was coming. The message was clear: you cannot walk in and out of the auction based on your whims.

There is no doubt that due to political tensions, Pakistani players would have been banned from IPL anyway but there is also no doubt that without Pakistan’s cheap stunt in 2009, the Pakistani players would have played until 2012-13 at the very least, which means life changing money for some players.

Who knows - with IPL money in their accounts, the 2010 spot fixing would not have happened. We would never know.

Until the cheap imitation called PSL was created in 2016 to pick up IPL’s scraps, Pakistani players couldn’t stop talking about IPL and all the money and exposure they were missing out on.

Furthermore, if winning T20 World Cups and making the finals is a measure of the quality of your domestic league, then by that logic, the Caribbean T20 League must be the best in the world since West Indies have picked up more T20 World Cups than anyone and the Sri Lankan league must be better than both IPL and PSL since neither India nor Pakistan have managed to win the tournament in the IPL and PSL era.

The IPL became a giant and a bigger brand than Pakistan cricket itself without the contribution of a single Pakistani player.

That alone encapsulates the worth of Pakistani T20 cricketers. The IPL would have suffered without the Gayles, ABs, McCullums etc., but clearly, the absence of Pakistani players did not hurt.

 

[MenInG]

Usual from Pakistan haters in this thread. I would urge not to give much oxygen to it.

Coming back to the article - PSL has made a huge impact on our cricket in general and will become even more stronger now that we have reached the final.

Well done to the PCB and to all past and present admins who did their utmost to get this off the ground.

 

[SamNJ]

Pajama leagues all around the world are just plain pure business. You can't equate a good or bad T20 world cup outing of a team to its league's quality.
Shaheen was an exceptional talent right from U-19. Haris has improved in last 2 years due to his own hard work and experience. Naseem is still work in progress.
Khushdil, Asif and Haider all did well in PSL but failed to make a mark at internationals.

 

[Mamoon]

Our delusions aside, PSL will never be able to compete with IPL. However, there is no doubt PSL has done some good to Pakistan cricket.

It is painful to admit for some but the reality is that the credit goes to Najam Sethi. Along with restoring international cricket in Pakistan, he turned PSL into reality.

By far the best PCB chairman in a very long time. Too bad he didn’t continue due to political differences.

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

Nonsense from the author to forcefully link Pakistan's T20 finals place to PSL and deriding IPL $$ in the process.

Of course PSL has honed Pakistan's skills and made them better than they could be without it.

But Pakistan have been beaten by better teams consistently - not least recently by England and Sri Lanka. If PSL were that great, those teams would be blown out of the water. And they were almost out of the semi finals too - but for some great fortune.

Fact is, Pakistan has tremendously talented players and they just can't be kept down - PSL or not. They are some of the brightest lights in the cricketing world and would have lit up IPL - like they did in the first edition.

Similarly, if India wins, it won't be down to IPL only. It is a tremendous cricketing nation.

 

[Mamoon]

Pajama leagues all around the world are just plain pure business. You can't equate a good or bad T20 world cup outing of a team to its league's quality.
Shaheen was an exceptional talent right from U-19. Haris has improved in last 2 years due to his own hard work and experience. Naseem is still work in progress.
Khushdil, Asif and Haider all did well in PSL but failed to make a mark at internationals.

Firstly, please stop calling T20 leagues “pajama”. What does it even mean? This jibe doesn’t even make sense.

T20 leagues do a lot of good and is a tremendous platform for the development of young players.

It gives them an opportunity to experience high pressure, high octane environment and get a feel of what actual competition is like. It also gives them a platform to share dressing room with some top players.

The way Suryakumar has taken to international cricket and the way Haris has played in this tournament has a lot to do with their experience in IPL and PSL.

If you are a young kid playing in a high pressure IPL game with 50,000 people watching in the stadium and millions watching on TV, you will probably not feel nervous if you end up donning the Indian journey in the future. The stage freight will not be a factor for you.

 

[jaisan]

the most important thing left untouched by the article is the zero participation of indian players in other t20 leagues by which the indian players are not getting exposure to variety of conditions. they play ipl but comparing to all other countries. players tbey are short on experiance.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

People are missing the point here.

The IPL is often touted as being the greatest training grounds for cricket. They have carved up traditional cricketing schedules to make way for the IPL. The majority of non-Indian fans around the world have no interest in the IPL, but we are forced a narrative by players and some elements of the media that the IPL helps hone a players skill.

Us fans know that its all about the money, yet we are told over and over again, that the IPL is the supreme standard of cricket from players development in an attempt to justify the way cricket is being structured at the moment.

When the main products of the IPL can't win an ICC tournament it completely shatters this narrative.

This is not the fault of the Indian board or the Indian team, I lay the blame squarely at the foot of players and boards who have tried to pull the wool over our eyes in the pursuit of dollars.