LAHORE: A controversy surrounded the anthem for upcoming PSL (Pakistan Super League’s) 9th edition as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) separated known singer Ali Zafar from the project after giving him a formal approval two months ago.

The PCB has reportedly given in to the pressure from one of the PSL franchises which was of the view that Mr Zafar had become “controversial” for his litigation with his fellow singer Meesha Shafi in the past, therefore, anthem by him would not go down well with the public and the image of the PSL.

The reservations were strongly expressed despite the high court verdict in favour of Zafar dismissing Shafi’s case against him and the FIA’s report stating that nine people including Shafi were responsible for running a vilification campaign against him especially on social media.

Zafar’s defamation case against Meesha is still pending in the court.

About two months ago, the PCB had engaged Ali Zafar for singing the PSL-9 edition which is set to kick off on Feb 17.

“After a go-ahead from the PCB in November last, Ali Zafar worked on three versions of anthems, with one of them receiving formal and creative approval. However, he was told this week that the PCB could not hire his services as some objections had been raised by a franchise on taking him on board,” a source privy to the development told Dawn on Wednesday.

The source said a majority of the franchises was initially on board with hiring Mr Zafar but eventually yielded to the pressure by one franchise. Ali Zafar had sung the anthem for the first three editions of the PSL.

A PCB spokesperson did not offer any comment on the matter in response to Dawn’s queries. Ali Zafar, however, told Dawn that he was officially contacted by the PCB to create the PSL anthem for this year. “After working on it for two months, hiring musicians and music producers at my personal expense, I came up with three different versions of the anthem for the PCB to choose from. After one of them was finalised and the release was being planned, I was informed by the PCB that I cannot go ahead with the anthem for reasons that I would not like to disclose at this point.”

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2024