PSL’s Herculean Challenge
Khalid Hussain October 4, 2015
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Pakistan’s cricket chiefs are finally going ahead with their plans to launch a professional Twenty20 league. If the event clicks, it will be great for the game in our country but what if it doesn’t? What if, it turns out to be something of a sitting duck for match-fixers?
These are strange times for professional cricket. From one angle, all that one can see is a bright, almost rosy picture. The hundreds of millions of dollars made by the Indian Premier League (IPL) have added to the BCCI’s treasure chest since the glitzy event’s inception back in 2008. It has made unknown cricketers from the lengths and breadths of India into rich and famous stars and has made the already rich stars like MS Dhoni even richer.
IPL’s financial success has triggered a chain reaction in the best part of the cricket world that has seen professional Twenty20 leagues mushrooming in countries ranging from Australia and England to Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh. These leagues have opened up greener pastures for international cricketers, who can now make big bucks faster than ever before in the history of the game. Some make millions within a span of a few weeks. Even the lesser-known ones get reasonably fat paychecks. Cricket has never been so lucrative for the men who earn their bread and butter through it. These leagues also help the host country to try out unheralded youngsters in a competitive environment.
For an optimist, these are good enough reasons for Pakistan to finally join the bandwagon. After all, when almost all major cricket-playing nations are either benefitting from the windfall or at least trying to benefit from it, why should Pakistan cricketers remain deprived of a league owned by their cricket board.
Pakistani players, despite being counted among the best when it comes to the fastest version of the game, have been kept out of the lucrative IPL because of political reasons. They are going to welcome the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and with due reason.
For the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), too, the league could be a lasting solution to its financial problems. Najam Sethi, the man at the helm of the PSL, is confident that the league will soon be a major source of income for the cash-strapped board.
For better or for worse, Pakistan’s cricket chiefs have finally decided to go ahead with their plans to launch a professional Twenty20 league. If it clicks, it would be great for the game in our country but what if it doesn’t? What if, it turns out to be sitting duck for match-fixers?
Najam Sethi has achieved a major breakthrough by bringing the PSL within reach. But his job will reach completion only if the PCB manages to deliver a successful, corruption-free league.
The onus will be on Najam Sethi to make sure that the PSL is held fixing-free. I’m not suggesting that it should be trouble-free because with any new enterprise there are almost always some sort of teething problems. And when it comes to large-scale sporting competitions there are always some kind of technical problems. The most important thing that Najam Sethi and his team need to do is take steps to ensure that the PSL doesn’t fall prey to the corrupt elements that have been stalking and, to a large extent, ruining this beautiful game for years.
It won’t be easy considering that the fixers have, over the years, devised various ways and means to neutralize any anti-corruption measures taken by the authorities. Even mega events like the ICC World Cup aren’t immune.
But what works to the PSL’s advantage is that it is being started right from scratch. And it can learn from seven years of IPL failures to curb corruption.
For the PCB, it should begin with the scrutiny of the parties that will become franchise owners. I can tell you that at least some of them won’t be joining PSL to do Pakistan cricket a service. They will be primarily in for the money. Now, a new league like the PSL is unlikely to make huge profits in an already saturated Twenty20 market. The short-cut for franchise owners to make money isn’t going to be the right way. I’m not saying that they will resort to fixing matches. After all, why would they go for such perilous gambles when there is spot-fixing – difficult to detect but almost as profitable as fixing entire matches?
We have seen that happening in the IPL. The scenes showing India’s fraud squad, the Enforcement Directorate, carrying out raids on the homes of bookmakers in Delhi and Jaipur are still fresh in the minds of cricket fans across the globe. Later, two of the leading IPL teams were suspended after officials were found guilty of illegally betting on various games. Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, captained by Australian star Steve Smith were thrown out of the league to, using the words of the tribunal’s chief, “protect the integrity of the game”. It was a huge blow for the IPL as CSK is the most successful team in the league’s history having won the event in 2010 and 2011. They finished runners-up in 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2015. Rajasthan were winners of the inaugural edition in 2008. But it was hardly surprising considering that the IPL has been beset by fixing investigations and rumours of corruption since its launch. It hit a low in 2013 when India’s Test pacer S. Sreesanth was banned for life for spot-fixing during IPL.
But the IPL survived these near fatal blows because India runs world cricket.
Pakistan enjoys no such luxury. It carries the stigma of a series of fixing scandals starting from the nineties when a former national captain was banned for corruption. More recently, three leading Pakistani cricketers were banned and even imprisoned for spot-fixing during the 2010 tour of England. Unlike the past when Pakistan were counted among the big boys of world cricket, the country stands marginalised with international teams staying away from it because of security apprehensions. In stark contrast to India, Pakistan yields little or no clout in the power corridors of international cricket.
Such dismal background means that unlike its richer and powerful cousin in the east, the PSL won’t survive any corruption-related episodes. This is going to be a clear and present danger once the league rolls into action in the UAE next February.
PCB will have to devise a comprehensive mechanism that can help it detect any suspicious elements before they become a part of the PSL. It will need to keep a hawk-eye and should be ready to nip any possible evil in the bud. It will have to educate Pakistani players, especially the younger ones, on how to shield themselves from fixing mafias. Unlike the IPL which was known for its wild after-parties, the PSL will need to keep its eyes on the ball. Such after parties make it easy for the bookies to approach players or to carry out “honey-trap” blackmail scams. Being a T20 event competing against established leagues, the PSL must be entertaining but the entertainment should happen on the cricket field and not off it.
Najam Sethi has achieved a major breakthrough by bringing the PSL within reach. But his job will reach completion only if the PCB manages to deliver a successful, corruption-free league. If that happens, then I’m sure Sethi’s name will go down in history as the man, who did Pakistan cricket a big service.
PSL’s Herculean Challenge | TNS - The News on Sunday
