THE build-up to the 10th season of the Pakistan Super League, cricket’s most lucrative product in the country, has hardly been ideal.

This season marks a decade since the inception of the league that had earlier been transformational for the sport in Pakistan. But it begins today amid concerns that cricket in the country has touched an all-time low, with the national team consistently underperforming and a war of words raging between franchise owners over the PSL’s standing.

Pakistan have been struggling internationally for several months now — be it at the Champions Trophy they hosted or the New Zealand series, which ended with skipper Mohammad Rizwan stating that the players would try to do better in the PSL.

However, the PSL — once Pakistan’s springboard to success at the international level, and a platform for budding players who would go on to become the national team’s stars — is no longer the same competition it was in its earlier iterations.

It also does not have international players of the same calibre as before, thanks largely to the fact that it runs at the same time as the Indian Premier League. It has meant that PSL sides will make do with international players not picked in the IPL draft, former Australian opener David Warner among them. The mood has also been dampened due to Pakistan’s own star names floundering at recent international matches.

Furthermore, there are doubts over the PSL’s overall standing. Multan Sultans owner Ali Tareen questioned the claim of the Pakistan Cricket Board that the upcoming season of the PSL would be the biggest, stating it was more of the same. It prompted a strong rebuke from his Karachi Kings counterpart Salman Iqbal before Mr Tareen clarified he was worried about the league’s stagnation. He spoke about the need to make it an international brand, but it is evident with the PSL’s scheduling this season that it is not drawing global attention as it runs in the shadow of the IPL.

That should not, however, in any way diminish its status as Pakistan’s most entertaining sports product, one that paved the way for the return of international cricket to the country. The current season, though, should pave the way to make the PSL bigger and better.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2025