Pakistan Super League, Pakistan”s own franchise based T20 competition got started off on February 22 this year.
Unfortunately due to security reasons the tournament has not been played in Pakistan barring the final last year which took place in Lahore”s Gaddafi stadium.
The Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi won the previous two editions of the tournament and this year, a sixth team Multan Sultans joined in. There are teams from Islamabad as well as Quetta too. Ten matches have been played so far this edition of the tournament but the crowd turns out has been very poor.
This is not seen at all in India during the IPL several thousand fans throng to the grounds to watch the likes of Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, David Warner and Steve Smith in action. Across two months IPL attracts more than a few lakh people to the stadiums. With a huge television and digital audience for it.
Twitterati took no time in digging deep into low PSL turnouts to packed Indian stadiums during the IPL. Many took jibes at the similar ilk of PSL team”s dresses to the IPL teams as well.
The criticism is largely unfair as one tournament is played in front of home crowds while the other doesn”t have that luxury. There”s a strong support to the tournament from the Pakistan people back home with many watching the tournament on prime time television and digital platforms.
But, there is more to PSL not getting crowds in UAE because when 20 games of the IPL took place in the same country in 2014 they received great turn out with weekend games attracting full houses. It can be said that there is a large Indian fan base in UAE but there is also a significant Pakistani fan base too for cricket and so the fault of the Pakistani administrators can be seen.
Pakistanis and the administrators there would want PSL to be played in Pakistan fully as soon as possible. We wish them luck in this endeavor.
Here Are Twitter Reactions:-
Pic 1 : Crowd in PSL
Pic 2 : IPL Vodafone Fan Army#PSL2018 pic.twitter.com/zN0nmTyvDq
— sudhanshu' (@whoshud) February 23, 2018
Another disappointing crowd in Dubai today.
The ONLY way to pull the crowd toward grounds is to organize next PSL in Pakistan, which will increase the beauty of cricket as well as cricket lovers will entertain throughout all the matches.#PSL2018 pic.twitter.com/ckubWG74eN— Hirra Hassan (@Hirra_Hassan) February 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/Friesology_/status/967740315162595328
https://twitter.com/FarziCricketer/status/968729762612109312
https://twitter.com/akramismm/status/968099053073457152
Absolutely. @thePSLt20 is drawing the maximum number of crowd. We, your Indian baaps have already started collecting mass signature to force @GWR to include #PSL in the guinness book for the attendance of highest number of 'invisible crowd'. Khush ho jaa bete.😆😆😆😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/CrVQMhCDSg
— জয় শ্রী রাম🇮🇳🛕(𝗕𝗝𝗣 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆) #𝐏𝐊𝐌𝐊𝐁 (@AbhishekOpines) February 26, 2018
World class league like PSL and no crowd on working days. Crowd only on Friday or Playoffs is not enough. PCB need to arrange this league in any other venue like England, South Africa. This kind of league deserves more crowd. Really disappointed by crowd response in all 3 seasons pic.twitter.com/HurzKqkebc
— Talha Junaid (@TalhaJunaid786) February 25, 2018
Proteas crowd giving tight competition to PSL crowd. #SAvAUS
— mon (@4sacinom) March 1, 2018
Decent crowd for #psl #ElClasico #KKvsLQ pic.twitter.com/DHsdq537bX
— Nav (@naveed_a_janjua) February 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/digvijay_mote/status/969265485920391168
PSL shifted from Dubai to Sharjah!
But still no crowd. Its better 2 move it to 🇵🇰 as soon as possible. Or karwao T10 or apny hr main player ko utha k bhej do un ma. That's what we have in result of that. Players n @TheRealPCB shud avoid this. Plz value your playrs & @thePSLt20 pic.twitter.com/03QxXYtawH— Talha Junaid (@TalhaJunaid786) March 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/imFarheenRizvi/status/969118436147130368
DUBAI crowd is so boring Pcb should arrange 80% of Psl matches in Sharja.. Sharja is far better then Dubai crowd #PSL2018 #KKvPZ #PZvKK
— Junaid Akhtar (@Its_JunaidAkh) February 25, 2018