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| Cricket is not a reality show: Sami Chaudhry's column |
Franchise cricket is unique in that it beautifully combines sport and business. The biggest success of IPL is considered to be that it has given Bollywood, cricket, and the stock market all in one go.
However, it was the charisma of the IPL that India Cements owner Narayanaswamy Srinivasan got the reins of the BCCI and then the ICC. Here again, the 'emergence' of the Big Three made the revenue sharing of cricket's global body subject to TV ratings and market share.
The tragedy of the Pakistani market is that some decision-makers know that the Indian 'touch' is the key to success in every industry. The film industry, which is going through its renaissance, has also fallen victim to the same trend and now PSL is also moving on the same path.
If one looks back at the cost of running a cricket franchise, one can only think of the English bosses who would spend their summer evenings betting on the batting of WG Grace, the first cricket superstar, and Grace getting out. When declared, he used to say to the umpire 'they have come to see my batting, not your umpiring'.
The profit and loss of the British aristocrats of the Victorian era are not known, but buying a cricket franchise in the present era is never a loss-making deal for the capitalist. Even though the league is losing money, the franchise owner remains confident that his business will not depend on the competition on the field, but on the logos on the 22 uniforms.
It was possible that in the beginning, PSL would have found its own identity in the quest to flourish on the model of competitive cricket like Big Bash, but capitalists seized the opportunity and turned a good cricket league into a parody of IPL. Worked to make.
In the short history of PSL, we have seen two types of franchises so far. Just as the strategy, selection, and planning of both were opposite to each other, the same difference was seen in their results.
While the franchise owners struggled to be more prominent than the playing XI, strategy, planning, and selection became so shallow that the line between business and cricket seemed to blur. More attention was paid to visual tricks than data and the results may have fetched good ratings, but the cricket was not happy at all.
But where the decision-making role in the basic set-up of the franchises has been entrusted to the educated minds who carry the data of T20 cricket around the world at their fingertips, the cricket has also remained alive and the results have been encouraging.
This is Multan Sultans' third consecutive entry into the PSL finals and it is credited to Mohammad Rizwan's leadership skills as well as Andy Flower's coaching and Haider Azhar's strategy, whose strategic acumen needs no debate.
T20 cricket has now become a game of technology more than technique. Success here is possible only where there is an abundance of data as well as excellent analytical capabilities. Misbah-ul-Haq, who lifted the trophy in the first season, also praised Rehan-ul-Haq and Hasan Cheema for the winning partnership.
It was the effect of data that ruled the cricketing world, Virat Kohli's opening shot was suddenly caught by a data analyst one day and then started to bowl 24 balls 18 inches off-stump to tie his leg side. It became a historic strategy that sealed their centuries for a long time.
An IPL franchise sifts through the scores of more than 200 players from around the world for the last two years to select their squad, and on the day of the auction, some unknown faces make surprising bids. Even the headlines looked surprising.
Mumbai Indians, the most successful IPL team, has a dedicated data performance app that keeps all players and support staff connected throughout the year.
In PSL, Islamabad United, and Multan Sultans are the prominent teams that operate based on data and their success ratio is always higher than other teams.
However, this is not a wrestling match, nor is it a reality show where a heavy cast and expensive make-up should be the reason for success.
Here, coaches like Andy Flower and decision-makers like Haider Azhar are proving that technique is not enough for success in T20, technology is also necessary.