It was good to see the Pakistan Super League kick off in Dubai on Feb 4 with the fanfare that you usually associate with such events. Yes, the crowd needs to be there in a big number, but no one can help the fact that Pakistanis play their international cricket matches abroad.

The showbiz bit in the opening ceremony was fine. There were Pakistani actors and musicians who made their presence felt (Fawad Khan, Hamza Ali Abbasi, Ali Zafar etc). The one thing, however, that the organisers could have done was to select the right kind of people for different jobs. For example, the person who was hosting the event left much to be desired. He needed to be more upbeat about the whole thing and the fact that he was reading his lines from a cue card, did not help either. Perhaps, it wasn’t his fault and he wasn’t briefed properly. Nonetheless, not a bad show.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, February 14th, 2016