The only five losses that were larger than Kings XI’s 97-run defeat to CSK

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Apr-2015Rajasthan Royals beat Delhi Daredevils by 105 runs in 2008
Royals’ fairytale debut season continued as Shane Watson hammered Daredevils in the semi-finals. First he clobbered 52 off 29 to lead Royals to an imposing total, then he sent back Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan in the Powerplay•AFPKings XI Punjab beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 111 runs in 2011
Adam Gilchrist had been retired from international cricket for over three years, and was pushing 40, but that didn’t prevent him from destroying an in-form Royal Challengers. He blitzed a 55-ball 106 and put on 206 with Shaun Marsh for what remains the largest partnership in T20 history•BCCIRoyal Challengers Bangalore beat Pune Warriors by 130 runs in 2013
On a flat Chinnaswamy track, Chris Gayle laid waste to the record books and the hapless Warriors bowling. The milestones he set: highest individual T20 score (175 not out); the most sixes by a batsman in a T20 innings (17); and helped Royal Challengers reach the highest total in T20 cricket (263).•BCCI

A defeat overseas on a sluggish pitch was a familiar situation that brought familiar words from Michael Clarke, but the Australians have to do more than talk

Daniel Brettig in Cardiff11-Jul-20154:01

Five things we learned from Cardiff

Oh what Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon would have given for a mere 11 overs to save this Test. When speaking about erasing the memories of Cardiff 2009, Australia’s cricketers did not quite have this scenario in mind. Not only were they beaten, they were obliterated.An England side still finding their way with a new coach in tow will gain as much confidence from this result as Australia did in Brisbane 19 months ago. An Australian team who had been confident, if not outright haughty, are left to ruminate on a very evident mortality.It will be acknowledged that they could have bowled better and, on the first morning, caught better. Brad Haddin will forever be clutching Joe Root’s edge with two gloves in his sleep, having failed to do so when it mattered. Nevertheless, this was a batting calamity, a collective failure of such magnitude as to match Lord’s two years ago, another week when the top six showed all the survival instinct of lemmings.They would do well to run their eyes over these words from Michael Clarke before the match. He laid out, more or less, what would be required of the batsmen in English climes.”Once you get in as batsman over here, you have to go on and make a big score,” he said. “You’re never out of the game as a bowler, there’s always something there – whether it’s the slope at Lord’s or you get some overhead conditions, or you take the second new ball, there’s always an opportunity with the Dukes ball. So as a batter you need to know that. In Australia when you feel like you’re batting well and get to 40 and 50, things become a little bit easier. Sometimes here it’s not the case, you’ve got to work your backside off for your whole innings.”Clarke has uttered similar words at other times, from the 2013 India tour and the visit to England that followed it, to a match against South Africa in Port Elizabeth and a two-Test sojourn in the UAE against Pakistan. The words come easily, and Clarke clearly knows them instinctively. But whatever the reason, the actions that should flow from them do not.Australia’s batsmen did not work their backsides off in either innings at Cardiff. On the second day they made a passing effort, getting established and pushing through the early period before relaxing into a rhythm and getting themselves out. On the fourth day, faced with a record Ashes target, they did not even do that. Like the crayon lodged somewhere up Homer Simpson’s nose, there is something that repeatedly affects Australian cognitive function on pitches such as Cardiff’s, and against bowling that requires a measured response.Part of it is a belief that pitches such as these are not a true test of their skill, and that the way the game is best played on them is a version of cricket they would rather not engage with. This was certainly true of Australia’s bowling on the opening day, when the desire of Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson to see the ball flying through to Haddin saw them offer Root far too much short stuff, a diet on which he completely changed the complexion of the morning. Peter Siddle had looked Australia’s best bowler for this surface in the two training days before the match, but at selection time he was thought inferior to others with more Antipodean methods.With a more balanced bowling attack England showed, in a quite exhilarating fashion at times, that slow surfaces must not always be associated with stodgy, risk averse play. In 2009 and 2013, the ways of Andy Flower had England playing the percentages with conditions in their favour.This time they allied their conditional knowhow to courageous, inventive and intelligent cricket, of the kind Trevor Bayliss used to be a part of with the NSW teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The mentality was aggressive, and the game kept moving, but the cricket was smart rather than foolhardy. One exemplar of this was Ben Stokes, who played a pair of positive and influential innings while also playing an understated but important role with the ball – his dismissal of Adam Voges via variation off the pitch was Australia’s point of no return.Stokes’ opposite number was rather more problematic for Australia. By the time of what was surely Shane Watson’s last lbw review Passion play, the match had well and truly gone. But his Australian method, plonking the front foot down the wicket and not allowing himself room to combat any movement or variation, speaks as bluntly of bowling machines and flint-hard pitches as anything else in Clarke’s team.Much like in the first innings, numerous batsmen played shots untempered by any sense of the match situation, nor the plans of the bowlers to outsmart them. Clarke’s vague waft at Stuart Broad will not be appearing on any of his highlight reels, and Haddin’s mow at Moeen Ali rivalled his infamous slash during the 2011 Cape Town Test.Clarke said batting for long innings was all about hunger. If so, then his team showed little interest in being fed at all. “The hardest part about batting is getting to 20 or 30,” he said. “Once you get there you’ve got to have that hunger inside you to want to go on and make a big score. Once you get to 50 turn it into 80, once you get to 80 turn it into 100 and look to make a big hundred.”But that’s the game as well. You get a good ball whether you’re on zero or you’re on 50 it can get you out. It’s the hardest part about batting. When you’re in form cash in, when you’re out of form find a way to scratch your backside off to get in form. I think the shot selection wasn’t as good as it needs to be. The fact that we all got starts especially in our first innings we need to have more discipline there. At least one, maybe two of those guys – me in particular – we need to go on and make a big score.”There’s nothing wrong with these words. Like those Clarke said before the match they make perfect sense. But they are just words, and for a long time now Australia’s words have not matched their actions on foreign surfaces. To win an Ashes series in England for the first time since 2001, and to do so from behind for the first time since 1997, Clarke’s men have to show a hunger that goes beyond the homilies.

The pitch against New Zealand, just a couple of months ago, was a brilliant Test surface that brought fascinating action so what has happened?

George Dobell at Lord's16-Jul-2015It is ironic that, in the week in which the MCC World Cricket Committee warned that Test cricket “will not survive” if “left as it is,” the pitch at the ground they own should provide such a poor advert for the game.While it is often said that some players “empty bars” with their exciting play, this was a surface to fill bars. It was a surface to pour cold water over the growing excitement in English cricket. A surface that might have been acceptable a generation ago but which now, in the age of T20 and more leisure opportunities, presents a danger to the future viability of the game. It is a poor surface.

Ricky Ponting on the Lord’s pitch

“It’s a very, very different pitch than what we saw against New Zealand only about a month ago so that’s a bit of a worry to me. It sounds like the administrators or team captains or coaches might be getting to the groundsmen and asking for certain pitch conditions. I don’t think that’s right. I don’t think that should ever happen in the game.
“There’s such a thing as home ground advantage but I think that’s taking it a little bit too far. What we saw today is a very uncharacteristic Lord’s pitch. I think all anyone wants to see is the character of that ground come out and the character of the pitch come out.
“You think back a month ago to that Test match against New Zealand, there was the most runs scored ever in a Test match at Lord’s, it went into the last day, it ended up being a terrific Test match. This one, look it could turn out to be a great Test, who knows?
“But for me today the balance between bat versus ball was nowhere near what it needs to be for a Test match.”

This Lord’s pitch is not poor in the way that Cardiff was poor. This surface, at least, has not offered variable bounce and, when the edge of the bat was found, the ball did just about carry to the slip cordon. It is a pitch that is fair to both teams.But whether it is fair to both skills – batting and bowling – and to spectators is far more debatable. There has always been a place in Test cricket for attritional play and there have always been pitches of which bowlers had nightmares. But if the MCC are to lead by example rather than simply pontificate, they really do need to sort their own house out first.It does not matter if there is, at some stage, a dramatic finale. A rock fall can be dramatic: it does not mean the 30,000 years of erosion that preceded it is great television. If the administrators are really serious about combating falling attendances and worrying viewing figures, they must combat the pitch problem.Might Lord’s have been following orders from the ECB? Perhaps. The England management insist not – they say there have been no specific instructions this summer – and the groundsman, Mick Hunt, points out that the days immediately before the game were full of rain. There was simply not, he says, the sun to bake the pitch into a quicker surface.It is an explanation that may raise eyebrows from those who recently enjoyed an almost uninterrupted Wimbledon Tennis Championships only a few miles down the road. But, until the last year or so, most Lord’s pitches were like this.It does seem a coincidence that the last two Tests on this ground – against New Zealand and India – have seen more lively surfaces. It does seem a coincidence that, once Mitchell Johnson is around, the two pitches prepared for this series have been painfully slow.If England asked for such pitches – if Andrew Strauss was on the grassy knoll, insisting the grass was cut and the knoll rolled flat – they can have no complaints.That would be a shame, though. After weeks of telling us how aggressively they were going to play, England were given little opportunity to “express their talent” or “show off their skills” on this surface. It was so slow, so flat, so lifeless that they had little option but to revert to more traditional tactics.Moeen Ali (left) pronounced himself fit for Lord’s, Adil Rashid did not•PA PhotosThey didn’t bowl quite as tightly as they might, but Alastair Cook was all but faultless in the field. After the excitement of Cardiff and the drama of the New Zealand series, this was a hugely anti-climatic day for English cricket. The game really does have a problem with self harm.Credit where it is due: Chris Rogers and Steven Smith batted with the hunger and application to take advantage of the situation. But this really was the sort of surface which any batsman would want to take home and introduce to their parents?Maybe it was a shame, too, that England did not have Adil Rashid available for them. On such a flat surface, perhaps his leg-breaks may have been able to coax more out of this surface.For a while on Tuesday, it looked as if he was going to be in the side. With Moeen Ali struggling with a side strain, Rashid was told that there was a good chance he could play and asked to ready himself.He then reported a finger problem – what is described as a relatively minor abrasion on the ring finger of his right hand – and ruled himself out of contention.It seems that some in the England camp are underwhelmed by that development. Not only are they surprised that he did not report the problem until Tuesday night, but there were some raised eyebrows when he considered the injury bad enough to rule himself out of a Test debut against Australia at Lord’s.To be fair to Rashid, he could be forgiven for not wanting to be judged when anything below 100% fit and only he can say with certainty whether he is ready. But many is the spinner who has gone into a game with ripped, blistered fingers – most would consider it an occupational hazard – and he may come to rue this decision as a crossroads moment in his career.If he is deemed fit to play for Yorkshire in their Championship match against Worcestershire at Scarborough on Monday – and at present the England camp expect him to be available for it – it will be a surprise if he is in the third Test squad.

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Nov-2015Zulfiqar Babar did not take long to remove James Taylor…•Getty Images…Yasir Shah then picked up his second wicket with another lbw decision against Jonny Bairstow…•Getty Images…and Samit Patel’s dismissal meant England had lost 4 for 11 inside the first hour, their hopes in tatters•Getty ImagesOnly Alastair Cook resisted as Pakistan closed in•Getty ImagesCook and Adil Rashid put on 49 for the seventh wicket but Rahat Ali parted them before lunch•Getty ImagesAfter Stuart Broad fell to Yasir, Cook was ninth man out for 63…•Getty Images…Ben Stokes was also stumped by Sarfraz Ahmed as Pakistan completed a comfortable 127-run victory•Getty ImagesPakistan needed just 38.3 overs on the final day to extend their excellent record in the UAE•Getty ImagesThe 2-0 margin of victory also meant Misbah-ul-Haq’s team rose to No. 2 in the ICC rankings•Getty Images

Stats highlight from the second day’s play from the first Test between Sri Lanka and West Indies, in Galle

Shiva Jayaraman15-Oct-20151:35

By The Numbers: Chandimal on Aravinda’s trail

152 Dimuth Karunaratne’s highest score in Tests before this 186. His 152 came against New Zealand in Christchurch in 2014. This was Karunaratne’s third century in Tests and all of them have been 130-plus scores. He now has 1457 runs in Tests at an average of 36.42.372 Runs Dinesh Chandimal has made in his last three innings in Galle. This was Chandimal’s second consecutive 150-plus score at this venue. He had made a match-winning 162 not out in the second innings of the last Test here in Galle. Chandimal has now made 614 runs in Galle at an average of 76.75, with three centuries and one fifty.0 Double-century stands by Sri Lanka against West Indies in Tests before the one between Karunaratne and Chandimal. Sri Lanka’s previous-highest partnership for any wicket in Tests against West Indies was a 170-run stand between Thilan Samaraweera and Kumar Sangakkara that had come in 2010.22 Number of Tests it has taken Chandimal to make five Test centuries. He is the second-quickest Sri Lanka batsman to make five Test centuries. Aravinda de Silva had taken one fewer Test to hit his fifth Test century.59 Runs scored by Sri Lanka’s last six wickets. This is the least their last six wickets have scored in an innings after their top-four had posted 400 or more runs. It is also only the fourth time they have been bowled out after their first-four wickets scored 400 or more. The last such instance was in 2005 when Sri Lanka collapsed from 407 for 4 to 498 all out in their first innings in Napier.2011 The last and the only time in Galle that Sri Lanka’s last-six wickets made a lower contribution to their total than they did in their first innings of this Test. On that occasion, they had collapsed from a score of 87 for 4 to 105 all out in their first innings against Australia.2007 The last time there was a double-hundred stand for Sri Lanka’s third wicket in Tests. Mahela Jayawardene and Michael Vandort had added 227 runs against England at the SSC. Overall, this was only the ninth time that Sri Lanka had added 200 or more runs for their third wicket.1 Number of partnerships higher than the one between Karunaratne and Chandimal in Tests in Galle. Mohammad Ashraful and Mushfiqur Rahim had added 267 runs for Bangladesh’s fifth wicket in 2013. Including the stand in this Test, there have been only seven 200-plus partnerships in Galle for any wicket. The last one was between Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, who added 227 runs for India’s third wicket in August this year.2010 The last time two Sri Lanka batsmen hit 150-plus in a Test innings before Karunaratne and Chandimal in this match. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara had hit 174 and 219 respectively against India at the SSC. Overall, this was only the 12th such instance for Sri Lanka.1 Number of double-centuries by a Sri Lanka batsman against West Indies in Tests. Hashan Tillakaratne had scored 204 not out at the SSC in 2001. Karunaratne fell 14 runs short of becoming only the second batsman to do it. His 186 is now the second-highest by Sri Lanka batsman against West Indies. Chandimal’s 151 is fourth on this list.2 Number of times before Bishoo that a West Indies spinner had taken a four-wicket haul in Tests in Sri Lanka. The last such instance came in 2010, also in Galle, when Shane Shillingford took 4 for 123 in Sri Lanka’s first innings. No West Indies spinner has taken a five-for in Tests in Sri Lanka.3 Number of times Devendra Bishoo has taken four or more wickets in an innings in just the three Tests he has played in 2015. His best Test figures of 6 for 80 had come the last time he bowled in a Test, in Australia’s first innings in Dominica this year. Bishoo has taken 14 wicket this year at an average of 30.85. His 40 wickets before that had come at 39.55 runs apiece.

Some easy ones were put down, some cost their team a lot, and some came with a second chance. A few drops from the three Tests between Sri Lanka and India

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Sep-2015Saha puts down a sitter
Sri Lanka were already reeling at 66 for 5 in Galle, and it would have become 66 for 6 had Wriddhiman Saha held on to a simple chance after Dinesh Chandimal edged one off Ishant Sharma. Boosted by the drop, Chandimal went on to score 59, putting on a stand of 79 with Angelo Mathews to steer the team to relatively safer shores.Mubarak drop makes Rahul a centurion
Probably the costliest drop of the series. Sri Lanka had taken two wickets within five overs on the first day at P Sara Oval before Dushmantha Chameera had KL Rahul edge one straight to gully, but Jehan Mubarak let this one pop out of his hands. Rahul, then on 11, scored his second Test hundred and earned himself the Man-of-the-Match award.Dhawan drops Silva before catching Silva
A straightforward catch to Shikhar Dhawan at first slip, in Galle, which didn’t cost India much. Kaushal Silva sent an outside edge flying to Dhawan, who tried to pouch it with his fingers pointing up, but did not succeed. Thankfully for India, Silva fell in similar fashion, caught by Dhawan off Varun Aaron, soon after.Rahane’s rare drop
Ajinkya Rahane was having a dream run in the slips. Then, in Sri Lanka’s first innings at the P Sara, Sangakkara edged a ball off R Ashwin that flew to first slip where Rahane tried to grab it with his left hand and then again on second attempt, but failed. Sangakkara, however, added only eight more before edging another one from Ashwin to Rahane.Thirimanne gives Dhawan a life
Dhawan had marched on to his hundred in Galle and was on 122 when he struck a full toss firmly into the covers towards Lahiru Thirimanne. The fielder leapt to his left, went almost parallel to the ground, and got both hands to it, but it wasn’t enough.

Plays of the day from the second ODI between Sri Lanka and West Indies in Colombo

Andrew Fidel Fernando04-Nov-2015The inswinger
Sri Lanka might have studied Sunil Narine’s knuckle ball, arm ball and offbreak, but Tillakaratne Dilshan and Narine himself seemed unprepared for a fourth variation. Brought into the attack in the fifth over, Narine delivered a seam-up ball that was perhaps meant to just go on with the arm, but ended up taking substantial late swing. Dilshan was too late to make the adjustment, and having shaped to flay it on the off side, found the ball traveling between bat and pad to take his off stump.The “too little too late”
No one likes to run out the captain, particularly if he is batting on more than 50. So when Carlos Brathwaite realised his mistake in the penultimate over of West Indies’ innings, he seemed to want to reverse it. He called Samuels through for a second run, but the captain didn’t venture far from the non-striker’s end. Both batsmen ended up at the same end, and realising his plight, Brathwaite tried to run back past Samuels so he would be the man dismissed. It wasn’t to be, however. Sri Lanka had already whipped the bails off.The drop
Samuels has a history of hurting Sri Lanka when reprieved, on this ground. In the 2012 World T20, Samuels was dropped in the deep for 20 and went on to hit a match-winning 78. Samuels was spilled again in the deep on Wednesday, this time on 38. He showed glimpses of his destructive potential, lofting Malinga into the sightscreen soon after, but was not able to have such a dramatic impact on the match this time.The superman
Lasith Malinga’s bowling had been uncharacteristically modest for much of the year. His fielding, though, had been almost diabolical. Often Malinga has seemed incapable of making direct hits even if he was throwing from inside the stumps, but on Wednesday he made a high quality manoeuvre most athletic men would be proud of. Seeing Narine bunt the ball back down the pitch in the 38th over, Malinga took off in the direction of the stumps, picked up the ball while diving, and effortlessly threw down the stumps in one elegant move. The non-striker was run out by a distance.

Stats highlights from the Nagpur Test where India handed South Africa their first away-series defeat in nine years

Shiva Jayaraman27-Nov-20152006 The last time South Africa lost a Test series overseas, whitewashed 2-0 by Sri Lanka. Between then and now, they had remained unbeaten in 15 consecutive away series. That streak is only bettered by West Indies’ 18 consecutive series from 1980 to 1995.7/66 R Ashwin’s figures in the second innings. They are his best in both Tests – beating the 7 for 103 he took against Australia in Chennai in 2012-13 – and first-class cricket. JP Duminy, in South Africa’s second innings, became Ashwin’s 300th first-class wicket. He added three more to that tally and averages 26.90.15 five-wicket hauls for Ashwin – equalling the most taken by any spinner in their first 31 Tests. Australia’s Clarrie Grimmett had been the sole record-holder until today, while South Africa’s Hugh Tayfield is third on this list with 14.169 Wickets by Ashwin – the most by a spinner in his first 31 Tests beating Grimmett’s tally of 164. A broader search including all kinds of bowlers indicates only two have been better wicket-takers than Ashwin after their first 31 Tests. England seamer Sydney Barnes with 189 wickets (in 27 Tests) tops the charts while Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis took 180 wickets at 18.78.55 Wickets for Ashwin in 2015, the most by any bowler. It is also only the 12th time an Indian has taken 50 or more wickets in a calendar year, Harbhajan Singh was the last to the mark with 63 wickets in 2008. Ashwin’s six five-fors this year also equals the most by an Indian in a year.17.81 Ashwin’s bowling average in 2015 – currently the third-best for any spinner with at least 50 wickets in a calendar year. Only Muttiah Muralitharan, who averaged lower in two separate years, has done better. Muralitharan took 55 wickets at 17.80 in 2002 and 90 at 16.90 in 2006. Ashwin’s strike rate of 34.20 this year is the second-best for any bowler who has taken at least 50 wickets in a year. Only Waqar has done better: he took 55 wickets at 29.50 in 1993.1 Instance since 1900 when a Test ending with a decisive result had an individual top score lower than the 40 scored by M Vijay in this Test. And it had come quite recently: Rahul Dravid had top-scored with 39 in the Hamilton Test in 2002-03 that New Zealand won. Overall, this was only the 14th Test without an individual fifty to end in a result.1 Instance when a bowler has returned better match figures against South Africa since their return to Test cricket than Ashwin’s 12 for 98 in this match. Muttiah Muralitharan took 13 for 171 in Galle in 2000.1912 The last time South Africa’s batsmen averaged worse in a series involving three or more matches. Their average on this tour of India has been 14.32, with only two fifties from 55 innings, but they had averaged 11.30 in three Tests against England 103 years ago. Overall, batsmen from both teams have together have averaged just 16.90, which is also the third-worst in any series involving three or more Tests.8 Batsmen who were dismissed for scores between (and including) 30 and 40 in this Test. The last Test that had eight or more such scores was the Ashes Test in Sydney in 2010-11. Overall, there are only eight such instances.13 South Africa batsmen who were dismissed for single digits in this Test, which makes it the fourth time that at least 13 batsmen fell between 0 and 9 since their readmission to Test cricket. The last time was against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2004.14.85 Runs conceded per wicket by India’s bowlers against South Africa so far – the best they have averaged in a series with more than one Test. Their previous best was against New Zealand in 1995-96, when they had averaged 18.51. India’s bowling average is also the fifth-best for a team in a series with at least two Tests since 1950. The last time a team did better was in 2012-13, when West Indies’ bowlers had averaged 14.47 against Zimbabwe, taking 40 wickets in two Tests.2012 The last time a South African pair lasted more deliveries in an away Test than the 278 by Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis in the Nagpur Test. Du Plessis was there again, with AB de Villiers in Adelaide, when they faced 408 deliveries for 89 runs. This was South Africa’s fourth-longest fourth-innings stand in away Tests (since balls faced information is available for partnerships). This was also the longest stand of the series bettering the 184 balls by Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay in the second innings of the Mohali Test.

The idea of Pakistan’s own T20 league first emerged in 2007, but it was not till eight years later that the project finally materialised

Umar Farooq05-Dec-2015What is the Pakistan Super League?The PSL is a franchise based Twenty20 competition organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board, and approved by the International Cricket Council. It is meant to be a three-week tournament scheduled for February 2016, and will feature five teams, from Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Islamabad. A total of 24 matches are scheduled to be held between February 4 and 23. Each team will play a double round-robin format before playing an eliminator during the knockout stages.Whose idea was it?The idea of Pakistan’s own T20 league emerged during the regime of Dr Nasim Ashraf, who served as the chairman of the PCB between 2007 and 2008. The league was mainly inspired from the now defunct ICL, and the successful IPL. However, the idea never materialised and till it found its feet, the PCB set-up suffered an impasse as the then chief patron Pervez Musharraf resigned in August 2008, with Ashraf also resigning on the same day to leave the country.It was reported then that during Ashraf’s term, the PCB reserves had fallen from $42 million to $19 million. As a result, the next chairman, Ejaz Butt, pulled out every hefty project from the system and shelved it, including the T20 league. But a year later, the following chairman, Zaka Ashraf, revived the project by announcing a lucrative business model in which top player could earn up to $1 million in two weeks.Ashraf’s brainchild was to hold the league within the country, but since the tournament’s schedule clashed with the 2013 general elections, the government refused to take responsibility, which led to the league being postponed again. There was the option to take the league to the UAE, but Ashraf was determined to launch it in Pakistan as a tool to revive international cricket in the country.The project then took off under Najam Sethi, then an executive board member with the PCB, after Ashraf was removed by the ruling government led by Nawaz Sharif. It took nearly five months for the present set-up to once again blow life into the project. With Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman, taking a backseat, the project was left exclusively to Sethi, who was entitled to use the PCB budget. Still, the project appeared dicey for five months until the PSL found a new shape when five teams were sold for $93 million.What was the confusion about Qatar and UAE hosting the PSL?Finding a country to host the PSL remained a pain for the PCB as until this August, Pakistan was without a venue. The entire project nearly crumbled after the UAE was taken by another party, who planned on hosting the Master Champions League in the same dates as the PSL.The PCB then explored Qatar as an alternative venue, but once again, it was not straightforward business. Qatar has just one stadium, which is not up to international standards, and lacks basic facilities for players. The PCB, though, reluctantly entered into a deal with the Qatar Olympics Association to host the league in the country. However, with their hearts still set on UAE as the venue, the PCB later locked horns with the Emirates Cricket Board to work out a deal for the UAE to accommodate both the MCL and the PSL.In September, the PCB pulled out from Qatar, ditching them to sign a new deal with the ECB, who offered a solution to manage both leagues simultaneously in three venues in the country.The PCB’s preference for UAE was because the country had anyway been hosting Pakistan’s international matches for many years.The PSL finally took off under the wing of Najam Sethi after the removal of Zaka Ashraf as PCB chairman•AFPWho are the franchise owners, and what are their links with cricket?The response for the PSL franchises was not as big as hoped, but the PCB still managed to attract several companies to bid for the five teams. The deal they locked was for $93 million for 10 years, with any given team costing $9.3 million per year.Salman Iqbal, the CEO of Abdul Razzak Yaqoob (ARY) Group, a holding company with various business ventures including the TV network, bought the Karachi franchise for $26 million. An Oil Company from Qatar, a new in cricket circles, which pitched the second highest bid, won the Lahore franchise for $25 million. Haier Group in Pakistan, a consumer electronics and home appliances company who are already dealing with the PCB to sponsor domestic cricket, acquired Peshawar for $16 million.The franchise from the capital, Islamabad, went to Leonine Global Sports, an entity created specifically for the PSL by a group of Pakistani investors, for $15 million. Omar Associate, a Karachi-based holding company with various business ventures, secured Quetta for $11 million. Omar Associate already have past links with cricket, having fielded a Grade-2 cricket team and recruited various women cricketers from the domestic circuit.Who owns the broadcasting and title sponsorship rights?The PSL’s title sponsorship belongs to Habib Bank Limited for three years, while Ten Sports and state broadcaster PTV Sports are the official broadcasters. The value of the broadcasting deal is $15 million, with the PCB selling the production rights to Sunset + Vine. The PCB itself will bear all costs. Global television rights have been given to Tech Front, a UAE-based media rights acquisition company. The sponsorship deal, including the title sponsorship, is estimated to be more than $6 million.How will franchises earn from the PSL?At least 80% of the revenue from the broadcast rights will be split equally among the five PSL franchises. Similarly, at least 50% of the revenue from the sponsorship rights, and 50% of the revenue from ticketing sale and the gate money will be equally shared among them. Interestingly, tournaments like the IPL and BPL give their franchises 100% of the revenue collected at the gate. But for the PSL, that chunk is only 50% because the PCB is bearing the cost of the venue in the UAE.How will the players be picked for the PSL?There won’t be any player auction, with more than 100 players, including foreigners, picked through a draft. Each franchise has a salary-spending cap of $1.2 million, including the signing of players, coaches and support staff. A total of 16 players will be picked up from five different categories – Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver, and Emerging.Each team will have a right to pick five foreign players, with only four allowed to make it into the playing XI. Each of the five PSL teams will get one selection per round to pick a player, and there will be 16 rounds. The draft will be accordingly managed to ensure that one team does not get to pick all the top players from the two top categories. Apart from the 16 players, a team is also allowed four supplemental picks to add to their 20-man squad.Normally, the team with the worst regular-season record gets to pick first. But since this will be the first edition of the PSL, a lottery system will be used to determine which team gets opportunity to pick first and in the later rounds, the order will be set randomly accordingly to the strength of the prior picks.

An absence of hype in Dubai has marked the lead-up to the inaugural Pakistan Super League but there is little doubt over its importance in Pakistan’s cricket set-up

Nagraj Gollapudi in Dubai03-Feb-2016Sachin Tendulkar smiles at you as you disembark at the opulent Dubai International airport. As you zip your way through the spacious lanes into downtown, and take in the vertical delights of the Dubai skyline, you notice players featuring in the Masters Champions League (MCL) staring out from the billboards.You walk through the opulent malls, listen to the morning radio, watch local television, drive in city taxis – nowhere is there a sign, an indication, a banner that tells you that the inaugural Pakistan Super League (PSL) starts on Thursday in Dubai. It actually starting tomorrow.The five franchises – Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars, Peshawar Zalmi, Quetta Gladiators have been working hard over the past few days, getting ready for what former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram calls the “biggest thing to happen” in the country’s cricket scene.The outsider will see the PSL as just another league in the conveyer belt of franchise-based Twenty20 competitions that have populated the cricket calendar in the past five years. Yet, for Pakistan the PSL holds a lot of meaning. It is not just about thumping your chest and declaring: Look, we, too, now have a league with global T20 superstars like Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen, Shane Watson, Andre Russell and, let us not forget, Shahid Afridi.It is also, as Afridi says, about “” [prestige], with the cricketing world waiting to see how the PSL performs. According to Afridi, captain of the Peshawar Zalmi franchise, the main reason the PSL is being organised is to see if any new talent emerges: “A new Wasim Akram, a new Waqar Younis, a Javed Miandad, a Shoaib Malik should emerge. That will only be good for Pakistan cricket.”Luckily Pakistan have always been blessed with precocious talent, but that is not enough in modern cricket, especially in T20s where pressure is a constant. That is why the experience of interacting with international players who have been successful in different situations, in tight and big matches, is handy.”Most Pakistanis say the PSL should be happening in Pakistan, but obviously for unforeseen reasons it is not happening, but the long-term plan is it will,” Akram, who has the dual roles of the tournament ambassador and the Islamabad franchise director, says. “But all the young cricketers would be rubbing shoulders with some of the greats of the modern game like Shane Watson, Kevin Pietersen, Chris Gayle, Brad Haddin, Andre Russell, living with them, watching them for 20-odd days, watching their training drills, what is their psyche. All this is not part of our first-class structure. This is a learning curve for the Pakistan youngsters.”The PSL also presents an equal learning opportunity for franchise owners. Akram believes both the league and the franchises will need to be more professional, focusing on the smaller things if the PSL has to grow into a global brand.”At the moment, things like timings for the matches, the nets are flexible. We should have a chart and we should stick to that,” Akram says. “There are little hiccups like not getting the kit on time, not having the caps and small things like that. The PSL said they would make all the kits, but they have taken too much on board. So it is a learning thing for both PSL and the franchises.”The PSL might have missed a trick by not adopting the formula used by the IPL to garner sell-out crowds in the two weeks the Indian league was played in the UAE in 2014. The IPL had to move to the UAE after its schedule clashed with the general elections in India but, as an established league, the tournament created promotional packages, invested in big advertising, organised matches over the weekends and flew in fans from India.Atmosphere and creating the right kind of noise is an important part of the T20 spectacle. Although the title song for each of the five franchises has a catchy tune, it remains to be seen whether the music will be played to an empty or full house.Najam Sethi, the PSL chairman, says he had limited budgets and hence could not indulge in marketing as widely and loudly as he would have desired. On ticketing, however, he remains unperturbed. “I would not say it is an obsession with us. We do want as many people to come. We want people to demonstrate their nationalism, their support and affection for the PSL. But to say ticket sales are going to be critical to our financial model is not correct.”Despite all the teething issues and a few embarrassing false starts, the PSL is finally a reality. It is, as Sethi says, ready to take off.