Is interest in cricket in Pakistan fading?

[sweep_shot]

It doesn't seem like interest is fading.

Here in Canada, Pakistanis are still crazy about cricket.

 

[JattMaula]

I dont think cricket will ever go away from the sub-continent as it has become part of culture now. And I personally dont understand the craze about playing football. It is a overrated sports and is not necessary to play it to have a sporting culture. Americans hardly play football and they have a sporting culture. On top of everything I dont think desis will play a physically challenging sports like football

I didn't mention Soccer as alternative. Which sport replaces the grand old game don't matter. I just think we will lose colonial coevolution still present in Commonwealth. Every subcontinental country will go be different.

And "desi" can play physical sports alright. If Japanese can so can we.

 

[Executioner]

IT seem that crickets popularity has declined heavily over the past few years in Pakistan or am I mistaken?What do you think has been the main reason playing away from home or lack of stars produced?

Brother, I can assure you it is a global thing rather than just Pakistan thing.

The younger generation, even in India and Bangladesh, born in middle to upper class families are far more inclined to watch football rather than cricket. People barely watch neutral cricket matches, even those who love the sport.

In a fast paced world many find cricket boring. An ODI lasts for upto 8 hours and compared to the past, people have so much more to do these days. YouTube videos, Netflix, Video games, social media. It is so much easier to fit in shorter games like football than a cricket match. Heck, a football match lasts half as long as a T20 match.

 

[Executioner]

In order for cricket to survive, ICC would eventually need to emphasize more on globalizing the sport, especially through the T20 format.

Get cricket into the Olympics.
Get more team in U19, Men's and Women's world cup.
Have programs where affliate or associate countries send teams to play in domestic leagues in other countries or atleast train in their facilities.

 

[liam26]

Brother, I can assure you it is a global thing rather than just Pakistan thing.

The younger generation, even in India and Bangladesh,born in middle to upper class families are far more inclined to watch football rather than cricket. People barely watch neutral cricket matches, even those who love the sport.

In a fast paced world many find cricket boring. An ODI lasts for upto 8 hours and compared to the past, people have so much more to do these days. YouTube videos, Netflix, Video games, social media. It is so much easier to fit in shorter games like football than a cricket match. Heck, a football match lasts half as long as a T20 match.

That could be true. But these football fans will never have a strong affiliation with those european clubs full of players from all over the World compared to cheering for your own National Team in Cricket comprised of National players.

Football is a club based sport with only one Global tournament once in four years. What will people of South Asia watch for rest of the year? Substandard Lahore v/s Karachi football matches or Mumbai v/s Delhi or Dhaka v/s Chittagong?

 

[jeetu]

As long as Asian countries win something major from time to time , people will show interest.

Hockey use to be very big in India / Pakistan in past because teams were very competitive at that time. Now common people will struggle to name 3 players of their hockey team. Hockey barely gets mentioned in newspapers now.

 

[MenInG]

Hang in there folks - the wait is almost over

 

[JattMaula]

As long as Asian countries win something major from time to time , people will show interest.

Hockey use to be very big in India / Pakistan in past because teams were very competitive at that time. Now common people will struggle to name 3 players of their hockey team. Hockey barely gets mentioned in newspapers now.

We are still a top hockey team and majority people just don't care.

 

[Titan24]

I think it was fading especially around 2013-2016 period but then PSL gave cricket a new life in Pakistan followed by CT 17 win.

The interest which PSL creates every year in Pakistan is just exceptional, it trends in every social media platform, channels have segments to discuss it and in this season we saw how the stadiums were filled.

So as of now I dont think the interest overall is fading rather has involved more people atleast through PSL which werent much interested in cricket at all to start with. Further with the emergence of fast bowlers like Shaheen, Naseem, Musa, Shinwari it shows that cricket has enhanced its overall reach in Pakistan.

However to maintain and increase interest in international cricket Pakistan team needs more stars and with some of the young players it is very much possible. Babar has already become a star in Pakistan and Shaheen has all the potential to achieve that. Hopefully Haider, Naseem and few others can also develop well as you need stars to make people interested in the sport itself.

 

[jeetu]

We are still a top hockey team and majority people just don't care.

We haven't even qualified for semi final position since 1980 Olympics. I think same goes for World Cup. On the other hand we had decent success in Cricket during this time frame.

 

[Hamza awan]

Today football has become more popular in the younger generations than cricket.I don't understand why would they care if Barcelona wins or not.However, yes psl has acted as a speed breaker.I feel one reason is that odis are a bit too long for people.More t20s would help in developing their interest.But I have asked a lot of my school mates and the main reason is that schools now have football grounds rather than cricket.Almost all of football fans of my age say that we used to be cricket fans but than we started playing football and school and now they can name the full 11s of their favourite club but not 3-4 players of pak team

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

need more star power to pull more interest. As much as I hate what Akthar spews.. he has a point about having Star power. Bangladesh is a perfect example. They don't win much against bigger teams, but they have star power in terms of Shakeeb, Tamim, Mushfiqur and even Mortaza.Locally they are very popular.
Afridi was the last real star and crowd puller i can think off from Pakistan.
. Hassan Ali and Zaman had potential 2 years ago but they have fizzled out.
Babar, Naseem and Shaheen are the next real contenders hopefully they stay on course.

 

[MenInG]

Dont think so at all - we may be feeling despondent about our Cricket but we are still very interested.