When the sun sets over the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Sunday evening, the lovers of Pakistan cricket will celebrate.

They will rejoice, regardless of who takes the HBL Pakistan Super League season 11 trophy. It will be festive, even before the first ball is bowled.

This season started — thank God it did — amid the air of sadness, amid the drums of war.

No hype, tasteless, bland, not worth it; that’s where it all began.

Behind closed doors, in front of empty stands, the action on the ground — the players, the cricket, the batting and the bowling — took over the burden of everything that was missing.

And it delivered; this sport we love gave us back more.

It is true that the PSL doesn’t feature the top T20 players in the world, unlike its Indian counterpart, but the “jewel in Pakistan’s crown” — as the league is dubbed — has been known for its competitive nature. And it was generously at play this season.

Some low-scoring thrillers, a big chase here and there, batting performances, bowling shows to remember and fielding masterclasses at times — those coming from young local players make them so much more special.

The competitiveness got its representation on the league’s stage points table more than it did anywhere else. Across the last three days of the stage, four teams were still in the position to vie for the playoffs.

It took the last match of the stage to decide which two teams would play the Qualifier.

The fourth spot was alas, and fittingly, was filled by the Hyderabad Kingsmen, in their debut season after becoming the seventh PSL franchise through an auction earlier this year.

Story of the season

The Kingsmen went on to deliver the story of the season, losing four matches in a row before bouncing back to win as many, facing defeat again and then thrashing Rawalpindiz to make the fourth spot on net run-rate, at the expense of defending champions Lahore Qalandars.

Kingsmen were able to do all of that with a team that looked ordinary on paper. Their only superstar picks were Pakistan’s struggling opener Saim Ayub and Australian stalwart Glenn Maxwell, who arguably is past his best days.

Their choice for captain — the Australian Test cricket purist batter Marnus Labuschagne — was baffling when it was announced before the tournament.

The Kingsmen batting line-up was completed by the promise of an emerging star in Maaz Sadaqat, a not-so-feared Usman Khan — despite his more than decent PSL record — once promising Irfan Khan Niazi and Pakistan discard Hassan Khan, who left the country to find greener pastures in the United States.

Hyderabad’s bowling attack was unrecognisable for a fan who tunes in to watch cricket only during the PSL; domestic toilers Mohammad Ali, Akif Javed and Hunain Shah forming the pace battery, while spin contributions came from Hassan and Saim — both known as largely part-timers.

But Friday night gave Pakistan cricket fans a new household name: Hunain. The right-armer defended six runs in the final over of the second Eliminator to deny three-time champions Islamabad United another shot at the title.

Babar rises again

Hunain, the brother of Pakistan fast-bowling star Naseem Shah, the flag-bearer of Kingsmen’s inspiring, storied run to the PSL decider, will steam in one last time on Sunday.

On the other end will be the other story of this PSL edition — Babar Azam and his Peshawar Zalmi — the dream team of the season, who won eight of their 10 matches to finish top of the league table.

The former Pakistan skipper, despite all the criticism one could pile against him and all the blame one could direct towards him, is someone all Pakistan fans love to see do well.

It was the first of his two centuries this season — which has seen him amass 588 runs — that truly turned eyeballs towards the PSL after the West Asia conflict and the consequent Islamabad Talks had slightly driven attention away from cricket. Although for its own shortcomings, it was when the right-hander put on a masterclass to help Zalmi rout Quetta Gladiators in Karachi.

That knock saw Babar announce himself back in his groove and got fans salivating for more. It was that century that gave way to campaigns on social media to bring the fans back into the stands, after austerity measures by the government had left the stadiums deserted.

It was that knock that made noise return to empty arenas.

It wasn’t a one-off by Babar.

After Hyderabad had completed their turnaround to make the playoffs, Babar welcomed fans back to the PSL with another blistering century to see Zalmi beat United in the Qualifier in Karachi only, making the filled-to-capacity National Bank Stadium buzz with chants of “Babar! Babar!” as the floor shook at the iconic venue.

A day later, Hyderabad registered a comprehensive win to knock out Multan Sultans — a formidable unit all season — at the back of Usman and Maaz’s half-centuries and collective contribution from the bowling unit.

What Hunain did in the last over against United, then set it all up perfectly ahead of the finale.

Two amazing stories will come together at the Gaddafi Stadium, and regardless of the fact that Zalmi will be hungry for their second PSL trophy in nine years, the handing over of the league title will be ceremonial in the bigger scheme of things.

Pakistan cricket will be the centre of attention again. The love we have for this sport will be at its peak again. We will love Babar again. Hunain will give us hope again; hope that has eluded Pakistan cricket fans for most of the last few years. The national side has largely struggled, stars have lost their stardom, the cricketing system is in shambles, and the administrators have repeatedly displayed incompetence.

But hope is the best and also the worst part of being a Pakistan cricket fan. For now, the case is the former. And it is an opportunity for Pakistan cricket to fight again; it is a reminder of its unmatched legacy.

Sunday evening will not only be a celebration, but a new start, another chance for the ones running the show to pull up their socks, clean the mess, and, with sincerity, give back to cricket what it has given to this nation across the last many decades.