Was Pakistan Junior League wrongly scrapped by PCB?

[Muhammad Saad]

I think it’s clear now we are not producing highly talented cricketers because the kids are not attracted towards cricket as a profession because of very little chance of making it way in to the FC teams because of nepotism and apart from that the salaries of FC cricketers are comparatively very low compare to the professional degree holder plus the earning period is also almost half compare to other professions, IMO PJL was a smart move to attract younger generation towards cricket with the hope of making good bucks in a short time period plus it could open ways for finding FC teams and then PSL , I think new management didn’t think about PJL in the long term and scrapped it way to soon

 

[Muhammad Saad]

I have completely lost interest in this worldcup because the talent gap between the big 3 and us is way too big now , heck even NZ and Saf looking better than us now on current form.

We definitely need to develop interest in cricket for the youth to take part in it

 

[Rana]

I have completely lost interest in this worldcup because the talent gap between the big 3 and us is way too big now , heck even NZ and Saf looking better than us now on current form.

We definitely need to develop interest in cricket for the youth to take part in it

Kids need to understand the value of making good contacts and friends

Cricket will take care of itself

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Kids need to understand the value of making good contacts and friends

Cricket will take care of itself

As if we have better options than Shadab , Nawaz , Hasan Ali waiting in the wings ? The replacements are equally worse or marginally better which again won’t going to make any impact to the overall team.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Due to the JPL 2022, today we are seeing a majority of players in the ACC U19 Asia Cup 2023 Pakistan squad who have played in the JPL 2022.

 

[Markhor]

It wasn't commercially viable.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

The talent pool in the U19 PJL was so vast even though the quality wasn’t much to speak off but almost all the players who participated in PJL were similar in talent and they got properly coached for 6 months before the league and all of them were so polished and now the result is for all to see , Pak U19 is more properly coached and groomed then India U19 , had PSL been continued for 3/4 seasons then we might really start getting those prodigious talent and if that prodigious talent get premium coaching from young age then it would have turned the fortunes of our senior squad in one decade only.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

There was not a single hack type or tukka player with no feet movement or bowler with a suspectful action , all the bowlers were swinging the ball at decent pace and all batsmen were technically sound , I really wish it can continue

 

[Savak]

It wasn't commercially viable.

This. The PCB couldn't afford to pump $7-8 million in the league without strong commercial partners and without a return

 

[Muhammad Saad]

But the result is there to see

 

[gazza619]

I would scrap PSL as well

 

[FearlessRoar]

I think the Pakistan should start JPL again. They can hold the tournament every two years.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

If PJL had continued we might have seen lots and lots of young talented guys starts registering themselves to their local clubs and start practicing hard and hoping to get selected for PJL and earn some quick bucks, currently the talented young ones are either looking for better education or trying to leave the country, it would have done wonders for our youth in building interest towards cricket once again.

 

[RidiculousMan]

This. The PCB couldn't afford to pump $7-8 million in the league without strong commercial partners and without a return

Then PCB and fans shouldn't expect good young players to come through the ranks. It's not about PJL.

But rather having a tournament infrastructure like PJL that gives young players a platform to work, develop, experience and share the dressing room with the greats of the game.

Wasim and Ramiz board had the right approach towards cricket of youngsters and domestic. I don't know specifics of how they did it. But they did and it was a success in terms of producing players. If the number of teams were less. Then the board could've added a couple more.

This is PCB's job. To provide the best infrastructure and platform to players. They are the ones to make this commercially and/or economically viable. If they can't and if PSL is following suit than it's a problem bigger than just tournaments like PJL. Which PCB has to solve otherwise Pakistan Cricket will die.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Currently the dim witted young guys who are bad in education and less in talent overall starts playing cricket and their family thinks let him do whatever he can to survive, and it’s reflect from our domestic cricket and national side in which we have players who lack even basic common sense and IQ.

 

[zarak]

But the result is there to see

What result Bhai. Just because we beat India in an u19 game once does not mean that PJL is a great success.

Are we that bad as a cricketing nation that beating a rival team once has to be glorified and taken as a sign of some genius on part of Ramiz Raja. Wins and losses happen in age group cricket. The same India u19 team can tonk us next game.

No need to be so fickle with opinions.

Pakistan u19 beat India u19 once = PJL is great success.

 

[RidiculousMan]

Currently the dim witted young guys who are bad in education and less in talent overall starts playing cricket and their family thinks let him do whatever he can to survive, and it’s reflect from our domestic cricket and national side in which we have players who lack even basic common sense and IQ.

Socio economic classes is something we don't talk about in cricket or in sports in general in Pakistan. But it definitely has its effects. It makes things more complex with many variables though

 

[Cricket Warrior]

I would scrap PSL as well

any reason to do so?

 

[Muhammad Saad]

What result Bhai. Just because we beat India in an u19 game once does not mean that PJL is a great success.

Are we that bad as a cricketing nation that beating a rival team once has to be glorified and taken as a sign of some genius on part of Ramiz Raja. Wins and losses happen in age group cricket. The same India u19 team can tonk us next game.

No need to be so fickle with opinions.

Pakistan u19 beat India u19 once = PJL is great success.

It’s not about beating or more talent, it’s about system and more polished players and any one how saw the match that Pak players were more disciplined and properly coached and mentally tough , the Indian team might have more talented individuals but were not properly polished , Naman guy is atleast 10k quicker than our opening pacers but he was so inconsistent with his line and length and couldn’t handle pressure as well

 

[zarak]

It’s not about beating or more talent, it’s about system and more polished players and any one how saw the match that Pak players were more disciplined and properly coached and mentally tough , the Indian team might have more talented individuals but were not properly polished , Naman guy is atleast 10k quicker than our opening pacers but he was so inconsistent with his line and length and couldn’t handle pressure as well

Would it not be better to see 7-8 games before reaching than conclusion. Disciplined and properly coached can also be the result of better coaching staff or training at the NCA. It could also be a one-off good game.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Would it not be better to see 7-8 games before reaching than conclusion. Disciplined and properly coached can also be the result of better coaching staff or training at the NCA. It could also be a one-off good game.

Yes but mental toughness comes from playing a high profile tournament and sharing dressing room with the greats of the game as your mentors and if you get this thing early in your career it really boost your progress and overall vision of the game

 

[Fenrir]

It wasn't commercially viable.

That may be true or not.The main reason is that whenever a new government comes into power it starts undoing previous governments policies,appointments etc.Ambassadors are immediately replaced,cricket board officials are replaced and so are police chiefs and bureaucrats.This has been going on for decades.This is the reason Pakistan cricket,railways,PIA and other state enterprises are in a mess.

 

[Bewal Express]

What result Bhai. Just because we beat India in an u19 game once does not mean that PJL is a great success.

Are we that bad as a cricketing nation that beating a rival team once has to be glorified and taken as a sign of some genius on part of Ramiz Raja. Wins and losses happen in age group cricket. The same India u19 team can tonk us next game.

No need to be so fickle with opinions.

Pakistan u19 beat India u19 once = PJL is great success.

It was the start of the journey. The PJL would have given exposure to poor players and we know some( or quite would be over age) but over time the talent couldn't be be destroyed by a lack of exposure because people would ask questions by why X,Y and Z wasn't being picked. A terrible short sighted decision

 

[Slim]

It wasn't commercially viable.

This. The PCB couldn't afford to pump $7-8 million in the league without strong commercial partners and without a return

Not everything is judged on monetary terms. This is what you call an investment. An investment that will bring you high quality groomed talent which in the long run will heavily benefit Pakistan.

 

[Markhor]

Then PCB and fans shouldn't expect good young players to come through the ranks. It's not about PJL.

But rather having a tournament infrastructure like PJL that gives young players a platform to work, develop, experience and share the dressing room with the greats of the game.

Wasim and Ramiz board had the right approach towards cricket of youngsters and domestic. I don't know specifics of how they did it. But they did and it was a success in terms of producing players. If the number of teams were less. Then the board could've added a couple more.

This is PCB's job. To provide the best infrastructure and platform to players. They are the ones to make this commercially and/or economically viable. If they can't and if PSL is following suit than it's a problem bigger than just tournaments like PJL. Which PCB has to solve otherwise Pakistan Cricket will die.

Ensuring youngsters share a dressing room with senior pros, work underneath the best coaches and be given a national platform to showcase their skills is the function of FC cricket.

No board can make a flawed concept economically viable. Why will big sponsors invest in a competition where the players are totally unknown commodities ? Any breakout stars that emerge will quickly move on. This venture reportedly lost $4m and players weren't even paid until several months later.

That money should be spent on upgrading pitches or organising A tours. Even the dysfunctional WI board arranged an A tour of South Africa. We're touring South Africa next year - why the hell weren't our boys down there getting exposure to overseas conditions ?

 

[gazza619]

any reason to do so?

Because i love the game of cricket and Pakistan cricket in particular.

 

[Savak]

Not everything is judged on monetary terms. This is what you call an investment. An investment that will bring you high quality groomed talent which in the long run will heavily benefit Pakistan.

India's tour to South Africa will help CSA financially where they will make $53 million from the entire tour and this will wipe out their two years of losses in one stroke. This is what frequent Indian tours to other countries do, it keeps them comfortably afloat and gives them enough security to make long term investments in infrastructure, player development programs.

PCB has not had any Indian tour for the last 15 years. The PCB has to be careful about their finances and they have to prioritize their spending priorities i.e. they will likely spend on projects where they can get the fastest possible return. The PCB has to spend on the stadiums across Pakistan which is no cheap endeavour.

 

[SpiritOf1903]

Why was it scrapped?. One good thing from Rameez ruined by politics

 

[Bewal Express]

This. The PCB couldn't afford to pump $7-8 million in the league without strong commercial partners and without a return

7-8mn a year? Are you sure

 

[Bewal Express]

any reason to do so?

Based on the PJL logic, it's also loss making

 

[Bewal Express]

I think the Pakistan should start JPL again. They can hold the tournament every two years.

Not the worse idea

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Based on the PJL logic, it's also loss making

I don't think so! PSL is adding value to Pakistan Cricket and has gained a lot of popularity over time.

It's the best investment of PCB as its a source of talent for us, so it must not stop.

 

[Bewal Express]

I don't think so! PSL is adding value to Pakistan Cricket and has gained a lot of popularity over time.

It's the best investment of PCB as its a source of talent for us, so it must not stop.

I don't think it should be stopped either but I was saying it's not commercially viable at the moment. The PJL would have brought forward many talented young players and in time they would have been the bedrock of the PSL and PK national team

 

[Flat_Track_Bully]

I don't think it should be stopped either but I was saying it's not commercially viable at the moment. The PJL would have brought forward many talented young players and in time they would have been the bedrock of the PSL and PK national team

Not everything has to be about being commercially viable. It was an avenue to identify young talent and funds to should be kept aside for it.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

I didn't like the preferential treatment that foreign cricketers got in PJL. There were reports of international guys getting paid on time while local players weren't.
Another thing is, one season isn't enough to judge if something was successful that too a 20 day t20 tournament.

If it were upto me, I would just get the best juniors from Pakistan and get them international standard mentors and coaches.

PCB can also look to collect stats from various cricket academies run by former cricketers like Moin Khan, Azhar Ali, Rashid Latif etc and get them to send the scorecards etc which could be another way to keep an eye on guys who are faring better than others.

 

[Savak]

The inaugural season had $4.4 million losses. This figures were confirmed and verified by a website. The PCB tried to sell the local franchises, tv, streaming broad cast rights but no one was interested at paying the price demanded by the PCB. The PSL Franchises also protested saying why are you creating other T-20 leagues, you should be focusing and investing in the T-20 league.

 

[shamaan]

Yes it was wongly scrapped.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

A league where they main players will move on after a year or two is just not sustainable or economically viable.

The PCB should have tried to pair the PJL teams with PSL teams and played a short tournament at the same time as the PSL.

I.e Gujranwala with Lahore Qalandars
Hyderabad with Karachi Kings
Pindi with Islamabad

This may have saved some money and more people interested in viewing it.

In the future if successful it could be made mandatory for franchise owners to show plans for a PJL side when tendering in the future.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

A league where they main players will move on after a year or two is just not sustainable or economically viable.

The PCB should have tried to pair the PJL teams with PSL teams and played a short tournament at the same time as the PSL.

I.e Gujranwala with Lahore Qalandars
Hyderabad with Karachi Kings
Pindi with Islamabad

This may have saved some money and more people interested in viewing it.

In the future if successful it could be made mandatory for franchise owners to show plans for a PJL side when tendering in the future.

That is actually an excellent idea , each 6 PSL teams should have an U19 sides as well and each of these teams play 1 match with each other that is total of 5 matches per season and then the top 2 teams playing the final and these matches should run parallel to PSL matches on the same day so these junior team players can share the same dressing room with the main team players and their mentors , the senior players and mentors would impart valuable knowledge to the U19 players and all this arrangement would give similar result as PJL without any additional cost to incur.

They don't have to invite foreign players also they don't have to give big handouts to the junior players as well.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Most of the players aged under 19 can only play this league once if it is arranged every 2 years. Only the boys with ages of 16-17 can play it twice but they will not have a huge number of such players. These young players should play domestic cricket, not this t20 league at this young age.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

PCB, you shouldn't have scrapped that league.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1734567136473866291

 

[Muhammad Saad]

in the current line up there is such huge gap between players who played PJL and the players who didn’t
Ubaid , Khubaib and Riazullah are not properly polished like other players

 

[Slim]

We definitely need to have an alternative to PJL, the way our U-19 team has shaped up this time around, extremely grateful to Ramiz for this!

 

[Azadoo76]

What happened with Basit Ali? He was the best batsmen in the tournament!

 

[Savak]

A league where they main players will move on after a year or two is just not sustainable or economically viable.

The PCB should have tried to pair the PJL teams with PSL teams and played a short tournament at the same time as the PSL.

I.e Gujranwala with Lahore Qalandars
Hyderabad with Karachi Kings
Pindi with Islamabad

This may have saved some money and more people interested in viewing it.

In the future if successful it could be made mandatory for franchise owners to show plans for a PJL side when tendering in the future.

This was the plan, the PSL sides promised to invest and buy the U-19 franchises but they backed out at the last minute out of fears that the PJL would canibalize the PSL.

 

[Slim]

This was the plan, the PSL sides promised to invest and buy the U-19 franchises but they backed out at the last minute out of fears that the PJL would canibalize the PSL.

What an absolute dumb take by those franchises. They run their talent hunt programs which are not as comprehensive as PJL. This would have only helped them develop solid talent for their franchise and Pakistan cricket. This needs to be re-explored!

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Definitely needs to reconsider this PJL and PSL collaboration

 

[RidiculousMan]

We definitely need to have an alternative to PJL, the way our U-19 team has shaped up this time around, extremely grateful to Ramiz for this!

Same people who talk about and living the principle of 'giving credit where credit is due' are hell bent on this to prove that Ramiz and the board then had nothing to do with the success the U19 team is having.

Such a shame. But at the end because of PJL these U19 players were given a platform, came in the limelight and were selected for U19 Squads.

There are dozens of talented young players in the country but they don't have the opportunity of a platform, to share dressing room with the likes of Sir Vivian Richards!

PJL or no PJL. It proves one thing that you need infrastructure and pathway in line with the modern demand of the game that allows the talented young players to show their talent and performances to the world.

 

[Savak]

More than the PJL, these U19 cricketers should thank the Engro Coaching Program which included Julian Wood, Julian Fountain e.t.c

 

[Saj]

The thing I didn't like about the PJL was inviting foreign players, paying them well and they leave with the experience of having played in Pakistan.

How many Boards invite our U19s to their tournaments.

 

[Nasty Naz]

The thing I didn't like about the PJL was inviting foreign players, paying them well and they leave with the experience of having played in Pakistan.

How many Boards invite our U19s to their tournaments.

Agreed, PJL should be a domestic tournament, not ones with foreign players. You aren't going to get extra viewership anyways having some randmon no-name English batsmen no one has ever heard of being in the tournament.

You don't even have to try to make it big like PSL or anything but rather, make it a domestic tournament where the best U-19's play and matches are broadcast. U-19's get a proper stage to showcase their talents and get noticed.

 

[Slim]

Agreed, PJL should be a domestic tournament, not ones with foreign players. You aren't going to get extra viewership anyways having some randmon no-name English batsmen no one has ever heard of being in the tournament.

You don't even have to try to make it big like PSL or anything but rather, make it a domestic tournament where the best U-19's play and matches are broadcast. U-19's get a proper stage to showcase their talents and get noticed.

Its not even about getting noticed but those players got proper 6 months coaching and got paid well. The two key things. Agree with @Saj, we dont need foreign players.

 

[Markhor]

Not everything is judged on monetary terms. This is what you call an investment. An investment that will bring you high quality groomed talent which in the long run will heavily benefit Pakistan.

Everything in life must be paid for. Look it's not my opinion but fact the offers for the title sponsorship and broadcast rights were far below Ramiz's lofty expectations. The franchises went unsold so PCB bore the full cost for everything which totalled nearly $4m.

That's unsustainable to do every year for a board like PCB with no India tours, meagre TV rights deals compared to Big 3 and home series that barely break even due to massive security costs.

I'm not against PJL provided it's somewhat self-sustaining. DV mentioned PJL being a PSL developmental competition which makes more sense. Otherwise why should Bahawalpur Royals develop players say, only for Karachi Kings to benefit a year later ?

Finally, I find the idea a one-off T20 tournament produces high quality groomed talent somewhat dubious. Again, what's the function of FC cricket and A tours if it isn't to develop young talent ? Why not spend the $4m on that ? If anything I suspect the current Pakistan side in the U19 Asia Cup benefited more from the youth coaching programme which was to Ramiz's credit.

 

[Chip32]

in the current line up there is such huge gap between players who played PJL and the players who didn’t
Ubaid , Khubaib and Riazullah are not properly polished like other players

You think a month long T20 tournament had any part in polishing these players? All it did was provide some exposure.

 

[shamaan]

You think a month long T20 tournament had any part in polishing these players? All it did was provide some exposure.

Exposure confidence and opportunities.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

You think a month long T20 tournament had any part in polishing these players? All it did was provide some exposure.

It’s the 6 month proper coaching which did wonders for them

 

[BouncerGuy]

PJL might be called a failure due to financial reasons but It has done something good for the U19 boys: competitive environment, confidence, and exposure to the big game-type scenario. PCB is not wealthy and rich like the Big 3 so these kinds of leagues are not worthy to be arranged due to expenses until you have money but it definitely helped many young cricketers out there.

 

[sweep_shot]

I believe it was causing massive financial loss for PCB. So, scrapping it was the right decision.

There is a reason why no other board arranges a junior league. It is not financially rewarding.