Why is PCB adamant on playing four foreign players per team for PSL 2 final?

[cricwiz]

I fail to understand why PCB is so adamant on playing exactly 4 foreign players per team for the finals, in case the quality of foreign players do not even match with the ones sitting on the bench.

There is a news report in Dawn which indicates to the fact that lot of foreign players willing to come to Lahore for final are unknowns, discarded players or Pakistan-origian players such as Yasir Arafat. The title of the news report is "Discarded, retired foreign players unlikely to add flavour to PSL final" and you can read it as https://www.dawn.com/news/1317835/

Other than Sethi's ego at stake, what is the reason of forcing the teams to pick 4 players. Final is already taking place in special circumstances where the original foreign players of the team (e.g. Quetta Gladiators) are not taking part in the final. If PCB can bend the rules to have replacements of these players, why can't they allow the coach, captain & owners of the team to decide how many foreign players they want to play in these special circumstances. i.e. something like a finalist can play between 2-4 (or 3-4) foreign players for the PSL 2 final.

 

[pakistanigoneaussie]

it is truly awful if PCB forces team to pick 4 foreigners, quality of cricket will go down and deserving players will miss out.

This should be purely optional

 

[volcyz]

This is quickly becoming one of the biggest farce in world cricket right now

 

[Executioner]

the rule everywhere else around the world is a maximum of 4 foreigners in the XI, surely its the same in PSL? and not that you need exactly 4

 

[cricwiz]

the rule everywhere else around the world is a maximum of 4 foreigners in the XI, surely its the same in PSL? and not that you need exactly 4

Atleast according to Mr. Najam Sethi exactly 4 is the case. Below is his tweet:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I can confirm that each Finalist team will field Four foreign players from pool of platinum, diamond and gold players who have agreed.</p>— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) <a href="https://twitter.com/najamsethi/status/836910562747559937">March 1, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Not only his tweet, but in a couple of tv interviews he has also said the same thing...

 

[Rayyman]

Not sure why it is considered platinum, diamond and gold. Considering the quality of these players aren't even close to those who were in the PSL.

 

[Rafay Shafiq]

What I know sethi, he will force teams to have 4 foreign players. The objective is just to tell people that foreign players are there

 

[Executioner]

Atleast according to Mr. Najam Sethi exactly 4 is the case. Below is his tweet:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I can confirm that each Finalist team will field Four foreign players from pool of platinum, diamond and gold players who have agreed.</p>— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) <a href="https://twitter.com/najamsethi/status/836910562747559937">March 1, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Not only his tweet, but in a couple of tv interviews he has also said the same thing...

5 team tournament where only one team is disqualified. Exactly 4 foreign players in XI. What is wrong with the administrators in PCB?

 

[Abdullah719]

Quetta's overseas batting replacements haven't fared well so far.

 

[MenInG]

There was no need when we have our own players. Absolute shambles.

 

[Yaasir]

The whole point of the holding the final in Lahore was to show the world and the players who didn't come to Lahore was that Lahore is safe for foreign players. Now that everything seems to have gone well, I can guarantee you next year a lot more foreign players will be willing to travel to Lahore.

 

[MenInG]

The whole point of the holding the final in Lahore was to show the world and the players who didn't come to Lahore was that Lahore is safe for foreign players. Now that everything seems to have gone well, I can guarantee you next year a lot more foreign players will be willing to travel to Lahore.

I think planet Mars would be a good place for such logic but that is your opinion bro and I respect it.

 

[thelandofthebravepeople]

Sethi ruined the sporting aspect of the final. There was no contest once Quetta players refused to go to Lahore.

 

[Yaasir]

I think planet Mars would be a good place for such logic but that is your opinion bro and I respect it.

And your opinion might have some relevance on Jupiter but I respect it as well bro.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Sethi ruined the sporting aspect of the final. There was no contest once Quetta players refused to go to Lahore.

I think the pitch would have ruined it whoever was playing. Not a good track for batting and that's why the crowd has been subdued, just not enough exciting cricket.

 

[fasihulhaq94]

The whole point of the holding the final in Lahore was to show the world and the players who didn't come to Lahore was that Lahore is safe for foreign players. Now that everything seems to have gone well, I can guarantee you next year a lot more foreign players will be willing to travel to Lahore.

I actually agree with these sentiments

 

[thelandofthebravepeople]

I think the pitch would have ruined it whoever was playing. Not a good track for batting and that's why the crowd has been subdued, just not enough exciting cricket.

Sure, but It would have been more even contest. Roussaw and KP could have been the difference here for QG.

 

[MenInG]

And your opinion might have some relevance on Jupiter but I respect it as well bro.

touche!

 

[Adil_94]

its clear the PCB sacrificied an actually competitive final over making sure foreign players came to Pakistan. Quetta would have been more competitive by playing local lads and the local players who had been in the squad. But from PCBs P.O.V a level playing field was irrelevant as long as their PR strategy that Pakistan is safe for foreigners worked.

 

[DHONI183]

Was it really needed to replace the foreign players with a set of another?

Again, given the occasion and where it was played, this may not matter in the grand scheme of things, but instead of for myself as viewer, it´s for the crowd that turned up that I´d say that they would´ve gone home even more satisfied had they witnessed a contest between evenly matched side.

I wonder how necessary it was to replace Quetta´s foreign players with a set of another who were, with due respect, hardly better than some of the domestic players that Pakistan themselves might´ve had to offer.

I can understand that such isn´t an easy position to be in for the PCB, but they should´ve thought of better options, because this is a final after all and it´s a game where it being a fair contest matters.

In my view, Quetta´s missing foreign players could´ve easily been made up for with some of Pakistan´s own national cricketers, such as Babar, Amir, Imad, Malik, Sohail (okay I mentioned the whole Karachi team there!), Misbah, Irfan, Umar Akmal, Sami, Rizwan, Ajmal, Yasir, Tanvir etc. No franchise owner would´ve objected to it seeing the bigger picture, and this would´ve come as a dream opportunity for the players to be playing a big game in front of the home crowd (who too would´ve loved it!)

 

[DHONI183]

Was it really needed to replace the foreign players with a set of another?

The match itself could´ve been much better had a better and a more suited to T20 cricket pitch had been offered, and maybe, maybe if Sarfraz hadn´t walked past one headlessly after having raced to 21 already with a flurry of boundaries. But still, Quetta were always going to fall short in their batting. It simply wasn´t capable enough.

One thing, why was there such a long gap between the crowd and the playing area? That looked so disconnecting and must´ve been very frustrating for the crowd too I´d think.

 

[samiakh]

Asad Shafiq and Umar Amin would have been a huge step up on Morne Van Wyk and Anamul Haq! Quetta should have just played two foreign players

 

[shane]

I am pretty tired of immature people bashing the replacement foreign players who travelled to Lahore. True that they were not the top flight international players, but at least they were willing to travel when no one else would. Quite frankly, you should be grateful for that.

 

[clean n cool]

for me this was the big issue. The poor pitch could be ignored and the lack of sixes due to big boundary. But sethi insisting on playing 4 new foreigners meant Quetta team's combination was never gotta be balanced. They should have allowed 2 foreigners!

 

[zacattakk]

The match itself could´ve been much better had a better and a more suited to T20 cricket pitch had been offered, and maybe, maybe if Sarfraz hadn´t walked past one headlessly after having raced to 21 already with a flurry of boundaries. But still, Quetta were always going to fall short in their batting. It simply wasn´t capable enough.

One thing, why was there such a long gap between the crowd and the playing area? That looked so disconnecting and must´ve been very frustrating for the crowd too I´d think.

That is how Gaddafi stadium has always been. There is a fence around the seating enclosures.

 

[DHONI183]

That is how Gaddafi stadium has always been. There is a fence around the seating enclosures.

You´re maybe right here. It´s been such a long time the last time I watched cricket there that I seem to have forgotten that! However, what I remember a bit is that very often a few spectators would occupy that area too and hence watching on TV it felt like they were still closer to the action. Going past that fence now mightn´t have been allowed now anymore due to security reasons.