GoUgandaCranes
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(There was a post by [MENTION=93712]MenInG[/MENTION] bhai about the 7th team based only on emerging players but I think the post got deleted however I had already written a long reply to that so here it goes as a separate thread)
I feel PSL can do a few things for emerging and domestic players both for player development and financial security. While [MENTION=93712]MenInG[/MENTION] bhai's suggestion about a 7th team based on emerging players was nice and I understand the reasoning behind it, it comes with certain caveats like reducing the quality of PSL, financial hurdles etc.
As an alternate view to the OP, in terms of player development, this can be done or at least tried
1. Select two to three teams based on the talent pool that has not been selected in the PSL draft and have them play practice matches with the franchises before the tournament. This year we saw Karachi play Quetta and Peshawar but they can easily play PCB selected teams.
2. Have an emerging team camp at the same time as PSL is on-going and let those guys practice with PSL franchises. For example, if there's a camp in NCA for 20 players, they can be the net bowlers, fielders, and if needed the batsmen for the PSL franchises.
When it comes to revenue, I feel that the economic disparity is going to create massive problems in the upcoming domestic season. We already have players who are complaining about low wages and losing their departmental jobs. It also may lead to avenues of corruption and players trying to push their luck to get picked by doing favors to people selecting players for franchises. Note: This is not an accusation of any sorts on any player just a possible warning to future possible avenues of corruption.
In terms of bridging the financial gap, the PCB can try to do this
1. Create a separate bonus pool for players who don't get selected and pay a one-off bonus to these players once PSL is over. PCB is already doing a good thing in realizing "Hamaaray heroes" and paying them 1.5K USD so it's not too hard to do it for your own cricketers as well.
Say for example, the current scenario is that the MOTM is being paid 4.5K USD and then there's another 4.5K USD as well after every match totaling a whopping 9K USD shelled to players already getting paid in the PSL. There are other monetary awards as well but I’m just mentioning these two as an example because I only remember these at this moment.
There can be easily a 4K USD per match from PCB that goes towards the "Domestic player bonus pool". That's about 136K dollars in the player development fund just from PCB. If they negotiate with the sponsors, they can make the prize money a little less, 3K instead of 4.5K and chip another 3K extra in the pool (two 4.5K prizes reduced to 3K each saving 3K USD from the match fees given by sponsors). That will surmount to an additional 102K in the pool.
At the end of the PSL, the fund may total at a substantial 238K USD which can then be divided in the domestic and emerging players who weren't selected in the draft. Even if there are 100 players who missed out, it would still mean approximately 2K USD bonus can be given to every player. It's not a great amount but it's still something spent on the welfare of the players who are the real asset of the PCB. The same benefits should be extended towards ground staff, umpires, scorers, match referees etc.
2. Have benefit payments like the Sharjah player benefit program for our past cricketing legends. A one-time payment for recognizing the services of our past legends like Younus Khan, Muhammad Yousuf, Saeed Anwar etc. The next PSL can recognize 6 past Pakistani cricketers with inviting them at matches, and then handing them a check of 20K USD or so at the end of the PSL.
3. Create pathways for players who are at the end of their cricketing career. Let's face it, professional players in Pakistan are dragging their careers because they have no career pathway once they retire from cricket. It's common that most of these players do not have a secondary skillset associated with them and can't just retire and start working another job.
There should be a paid "player commentator" role in every match with one senior Pakistani player designated from each franchise. If the broadcast company doesn't pay for it, PCB should negotiate a contract where they hire less foreign commentators and these players should be part of the commentary team. This can be done from the comm box, the dug-out, and even in the field with the help of spider-cam. I can even list the players who could take that role in the current teams
1. Zalmi - Malik
2. Qalandars - Hafeez
3. Sultans - Afridi
4. Kings - Imad
5. Gladiators - Sarf
6. United - Misbah (why not
)
The players should also be offered coaching courses in the off-season. We have such a long layoff coming up and it can be easily arranged for some of our former and current players to get those accreditations. NCA should also have curriculum for our players where they are taught some life-skills which include public speaking, public relations, etc. The example I can give is Shan Masood; he may not be the best player in the team but when he speaks, he is eloquent and fluent. That gives him such a massive edge over so many players. Yes, he has a background and all that but we do need to groom our star players like Babar and Shaheen so when they speak, it looks like they are international quality and not "ji bus boys played well and Allah swt ka karam ho gaya".
PCB needs to invest in the brand building of these players and even though it may be out of scope for them, it's still a worthy investment. The current players should have regulated Instagram accounts, YouTube channels, Twitter, Facebook where curated content is posted instead of them going on and on about "hash tag Roti group" and stuff that just doesn't sit well in terms of brand building.
4. Pension programs for retired cricketers. I am not aware so maybe [MENTION=9]Saj[/MENTION] can help me on this but I strongly feel that we don't have a pension program for cricketers. Maybe they can invest in 401K plan or something for all the players and provide them some financial security. Not sure if it will be easy to implement as some players play for one match while others end up playing 100.
In conclusion, I can say that the PSL has brought money to PCB and it has potential to bring even more financial rewards. We will never replace the top leagues in terms of popularity and financial rewards because we don't have access to the biggest consumer market of cricket. What we can do is to build within our own resources, continue to do an honest job, admit our mistakes, and work tirelessly to make the most of what we have, and challenge the hierarchy through innovative thinking and home-grown talent based development.
The realistic goal for us is to be the 3rd/4th best league in the along with IPL, BBL, and The Hundred (we have a head start on The Hundred). If we can manage to consistently do that, we will have a scenario where quality players would wish to play in the PSL instead of us chasing them to sign up and them coming up with workload excuses.
That should be the ultimate goal, good quality international players, sustainable development of local talent pool, & long-term stable financial position.
I feel PSL can do a few things for emerging and domestic players both for player development and financial security. While [MENTION=93712]MenInG[/MENTION] bhai's suggestion about a 7th team based on emerging players was nice and I understand the reasoning behind it, it comes with certain caveats like reducing the quality of PSL, financial hurdles etc.
As an alternate view to the OP, in terms of player development, this can be done or at least tried
1. Select two to three teams based on the talent pool that has not been selected in the PSL draft and have them play practice matches with the franchises before the tournament. This year we saw Karachi play Quetta and Peshawar but they can easily play PCB selected teams.
2. Have an emerging team camp at the same time as PSL is on-going and let those guys practice with PSL franchises. For example, if there's a camp in NCA for 20 players, they can be the net bowlers, fielders, and if needed the batsmen for the PSL franchises.
When it comes to revenue, I feel that the economic disparity is going to create massive problems in the upcoming domestic season. We already have players who are complaining about low wages and losing their departmental jobs. It also may lead to avenues of corruption and players trying to push their luck to get picked by doing favors to people selecting players for franchises. Note: This is not an accusation of any sorts on any player just a possible warning to future possible avenues of corruption.
In terms of bridging the financial gap, the PCB can try to do this
1. Create a separate bonus pool for players who don't get selected and pay a one-off bonus to these players once PSL is over. PCB is already doing a good thing in realizing "Hamaaray heroes" and paying them 1.5K USD so it's not too hard to do it for your own cricketers as well.
Say for example, the current scenario is that the MOTM is being paid 4.5K USD and then there's another 4.5K USD as well after every match totaling a whopping 9K USD shelled to players already getting paid in the PSL. There are other monetary awards as well but I’m just mentioning these two as an example because I only remember these at this moment.
There can be easily a 4K USD per match from PCB that goes towards the "Domestic player bonus pool". That's about 136K dollars in the player development fund just from PCB. If they negotiate with the sponsors, they can make the prize money a little less, 3K instead of 4.5K and chip another 3K extra in the pool (two 4.5K prizes reduced to 3K each saving 3K USD from the match fees given by sponsors). That will surmount to an additional 102K in the pool.
At the end of the PSL, the fund may total at a substantial 238K USD which can then be divided in the domestic and emerging players who weren't selected in the draft. Even if there are 100 players who missed out, it would still mean approximately 2K USD bonus can be given to every player. It's not a great amount but it's still something spent on the welfare of the players who are the real asset of the PCB. The same benefits should be extended towards ground staff, umpires, scorers, match referees etc.
2. Have benefit payments like the Sharjah player benefit program for our past cricketing legends. A one-time payment for recognizing the services of our past legends like Younus Khan, Muhammad Yousuf, Saeed Anwar etc. The next PSL can recognize 6 past Pakistani cricketers with inviting them at matches, and then handing them a check of 20K USD or so at the end of the PSL.
3. Create pathways for players who are at the end of their cricketing career. Let's face it, professional players in Pakistan are dragging their careers because they have no career pathway once they retire from cricket. It's common that most of these players do not have a secondary skillset associated with them and can't just retire and start working another job.
There should be a paid "player commentator" role in every match with one senior Pakistani player designated from each franchise. If the broadcast company doesn't pay for it, PCB should negotiate a contract where they hire less foreign commentators and these players should be part of the commentary team. This can be done from the comm box, the dug-out, and even in the field with the help of spider-cam. I can even list the players who could take that role in the current teams
1. Zalmi - Malik
2. Qalandars - Hafeez
3. Sultans - Afridi
4. Kings - Imad
5. Gladiators - Sarf
6. United - Misbah (why not
) The players should also be offered coaching courses in the off-season. We have such a long layoff coming up and it can be easily arranged for some of our former and current players to get those accreditations. NCA should also have curriculum for our players where they are taught some life-skills which include public speaking, public relations, etc. The example I can give is Shan Masood; he may not be the best player in the team but when he speaks, he is eloquent and fluent. That gives him such a massive edge over so many players. Yes, he has a background and all that but we do need to groom our star players like Babar and Shaheen so when they speak, it looks like they are international quality and not "ji bus boys played well and Allah swt ka karam ho gaya".
PCB needs to invest in the brand building of these players and even though it may be out of scope for them, it's still a worthy investment. The current players should have regulated Instagram accounts, YouTube channels, Twitter, Facebook where curated content is posted instead of them going on and on about "hash tag Roti group" and stuff that just doesn't sit well in terms of brand building.
4. Pension programs for retired cricketers. I am not aware so maybe [MENTION=9]Saj[/MENTION] can help me on this but I strongly feel that we don't have a pension program for cricketers. Maybe they can invest in 401K plan or something for all the players and provide them some financial security. Not sure if it will be easy to implement as some players play for one match while others end up playing 100.
In conclusion, I can say that the PSL has brought money to PCB and it has potential to bring even more financial rewards. We will never replace the top leagues in terms of popularity and financial rewards because we don't have access to the biggest consumer market of cricket. What we can do is to build within our own resources, continue to do an honest job, admit our mistakes, and work tirelessly to make the most of what we have, and challenge the hierarchy through innovative thinking and home-grown talent based development.
The realistic goal for us is to be the 3rd/4th best league in the along with IPL, BBL, and The Hundred (we have a head start on The Hundred). If we can manage to consistently do that, we will have a scenario where quality players would wish to play in the PSL instead of us chasing them to sign up and them coming up with workload excuses.
That should be the ultimate goal, good quality international players, sustainable development of local talent pool, & long-term stable financial position.
