PSL can filter out the young players for you, cant make tactics, selections and strategies for you. Players like Shadab and Hassan are only in team bcz PSL filtered them. We dont have Imran or Wasim captain anymore who can with one glimpse tell the potential of a player and PSL is doing it for us now to a certain extent.
PSL is producing players, batting collapse in the 4th innings where only Babar, Sarfraz and Hafeez are the ones who play PSL matches regularly is not bcz of PSL.
Precisely and one should note cricket has revolutionised after the advent of T20 so much so, it has changed the criteria of how even test players are selected. Earlier this year we Jos Buttler was picked for the England tests on the basis of his brilliance in the IPL. Another notable example is Warner who was recognised for his performances in T20 cricket, before Australian management took him under their wing and developed him into a beast of a player in all formats of the game.
There was a programme on Sky Sports some years back with Robert Key and Dominic Cork who made it very clear that future of selections in test cricket would stem from performances in T20 cricket. It makes sense because the modern batsman bats at a much more swift tempo in building their innings. Also selectors are looking for complete batsmen, if you can't hack it in T20 then it shows you're not the complete package. It is unfortunate that Pakistan think tank are so far behind the Aus, NZ, SA, Ind and English counterparts.
Yes FC stats are important however if we want a better picture of their ceiling and assess their true potential as a complete batsman, they should be able to deliver in PSL and other limited overs cricket tournaments as well.
From today's performance you can see why Azhar Ali is not a complete batsman and what he's been lacking. When you haven't played much of a high level in T20 cricket (such as PSL, CPL, Natwest T20, big bash and etc), they will inevitably yield limitations in their batting. At the same time one must acknowledge Azhar Ali isn't good enough to make the PSL squad let alone the XI.
PSL filters upcoming cricketers very well courtesy of the following:
1. Good Broadcasting - none of the 1980s PTV broadcasts you see for the domestic tournaments
2. Talent Pool - Only best and fittest current crop and upcoming Pakistani cricketers are acquired. Cricket is therefore more competitive!
3. Sharing the dressing room with decent foreign players and coaches
Before the launch of PSL, filtering players was a very big challenge firstly due to the lack of quality coverage and this was thus often ignored by the selectors.
Secondly the gulf in the talent pool you find in Pakistani domestic cricket is the major reason for the difficulty in filtering players simply because it isn't as competitive as it should be. You'll find various unfit, old or some other mediocre cricketers lingering around the domestic scene that get bullied by the likes of Sami Aslam, Shan Masood and etc. Now it's important to realise there are many other numerous examples like these two who are also very mediocre and like them managed to inflate their stats in domestic cricket because of such circumstances. I know Shan Masood got picked up by a franchise but guys of his calibre are nowhere near the level to be playing in the XI of a PSL side let alone for the Pakistan team.
Asad Shafiq is another example who has had a few seasons of decent List A stats (averaging like 50+) but everyone knows he's a failed limited overs cricketer. When you have batsmen like these who can bully the lower end of the talent pool in Pakistan then they all look like legends in the making. Hence why one must appreciate the challenge of having to pick players without any PSL material - as would be the case prior to 2016.
So no PSL is not destroying Pakistan cricket, it is a blessing which we should cherish and reinforce for many years to come because it will minimise the number of selection blunders that I have witnessed year after year since 2000 when I began watching the game.
These guys should only play T20s.
