Last week, the final of Pakistan Super League was the talk of the town for many reasons. Almost all government offices were busy discussing and finalising arrangements on how to hold the mega event peacefully, as security is the biggest challenge.

People of the city also discussed the pros and cons of holding the final. While many people opposed it, a good number of people were in its favour. The crazy fans wondered how and when they will buy the tickets.

As the announcement for the final match was made just seven days before its schedule, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had little time to make arrangements. It took a couple of days before the PCB announced the sale of tickets. As usual, some branches of the Bank of Punjab were designated to sell the tickets, but a very less number of people could actually get their hands on them, especially those priced at Rs500. It was the first time that tickets priced at Rs12,000, Rs8,000 and Rs4,000 were also sold out.

The arrangements made for the final match were not even seen during the high-profile series between Pakistan and India, which toured Pakistan in 2004 after 15 long years. For the first time, five-tier security has been provided to the fans and players to avoid any untoward incident.

The PCB is pinning its hopes on the match to be successful to help bring back international cricket to Pakistan, which has been suspended since 2009 after a terrorist attack on Lankan team.

A bus shuttle service for those going to watch the match and other stakeholders has been introduced to transport them from parking areas to outside the Nishtar Sports Complex from where they will reach their enclosures on foot.

The government is also seeking to gain political mileage for a successful holding of the final. PSL Chairman Najam Sethi was as big advocate of holding the final in Lahore for which he did not even care if popular foreign cricketers came to Pakistan or not. The PCB has also announced that next year the PSL final will be held in Karachi.

After retaining the West Asia Baseball Cup for four years, Pakistan lost it to Sri Lanka last week in Islamabad. Sri Lankans stunned Pakistan in the final. However, Pakistan along with Sri Lanka qualified for the Asia Cup to be held this year in Taiwan where top regional teams like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and China will also be competing.

The Pakistan Federation of Baseball should hold an inquiry to determine who was responsible for the defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka. Pakistan qualified for the final after winning against Nepal, Iran and Iraq quite easily. They enjoy a respectable sixth position in the Asian region and 24th in the world.

For the third time, Punjab Olympic Association has deferred the 72nd Chief Minister Games. The association was scheduled to hold the gala from April 22 to 25 in Lahore. But it failed to overcome financial constraints and postponed the extravaganza.

Interestingly, the PbOA changed the name of the event by adding ‘Chief Minister’ in it with a belief that the government will sanction the required amount. But the Punjab government is not interested in working with the PbOA as it wants to hold its own sports show/talent hunt from April.

The talent hunt scheme is meant for under-19 sportspersons. In the modern world of sports, however, the real age to pick up talent is 14 years.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2017