LAHORE: The floodlights died first. Then the sound grew.

Gaddafi Stadium, packed to a heaving capacity of 27,000, held its breath. Sunday night’s closing ceremony of the HBL Pakistan Super League-11 had begun — not with a coin, but with a spectacle.

The main features emerged like clockwork: fireworks that would later splash across the sky, four leading singers taking turns at the mic and a girl on a giant balloon performing acrobatics above the crowd’s heads.

First, Ali Azmat and folk-singer Arif Lohar shared a stage and a song, their bands thundering behind them. The crowd — many of whom had arrived nearly two hours early — roared back.

Then Arif Lohar performed alone in his traditional style, earning huge applause that rolled in waves across the stands. Millions more watched on TV sets at home, the ceremony beamed into living rooms across Pakistan.

The trophy’s journey was its own drama. Former celeb­rated cricketers Zaheer Abbas and Wasim Akram walked it to the main stage.

Then, from the Iqbal End, a giant balloon rose. On it, a girl performed acrobatic moves while suspended in the air. She floated down to the stage, took the PSL-11 trophy, rose again with it, and finally returned it before descending.

Different folk bands representing different parts of the country danced across the stage to folk tunes, delighting the fans further.

Then came the closing musical act. renowned singers Atif Aslam and Aima Baig singing a duet. The moment their song ended, fireworks erupted — the signal that the 30-minute ceremony was over. Toss time had arrived.

Within ten minutes, the big stage was dismantled and removed. The ground cleared. And then, under the reopened floodlights, the final between Peshawar Zalmi and Hyderabad Kingsmen began.

Overall, it was a short ceremony. Some in the crowd, who had waited under the Lahore sky for two hours before the first note, might have wished for more. But for 30 minutes, PSL-11 went out in colour, fire and flight.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2026