"One normal season of the Pakistan Super League", as the variation on one of social media's most recognisable memes might as well say. "That's all I ask for. Will never happen."
This should finally have been that year. After a switch of windows from the late winter - where other leagues suddenly began to crowd the PSL out - to a direct clash with the IPL proved an understated success last year, the league began to get comfortable enough in its own skin to expand. Two new sides were added - and fetched record prices. A long-running dispute between Multan Sultans' ownership and the PCB finally came to a head as Sultans were also auctioned off to new owners for a record price. New venues were added. The league was suddenly showing huge financial growth, raking in sizeable overseas investment. All of it came amid a political culture at the PCB which may not have been free or vibrant, but was predictable and stable - the perfect combination as far as investors with long-term stakes are concerned.
For the PSL, though, normality itself is a harbinger of something sinister. The four to eight weeks during which the PSL happens, with an almost cursed regularity, is the time when events, both regional and global, have borne down with crushing force upon the league, even if as a mere byproduct. Everything from an unstable security situation in Pakistan in the early years, geopolitical tensions with India, spot-fixing scandals and a global pandemic have derailed PSL seasons in the past. Once more, it is an event, in the form of the West Asia crisis, happening outside Pakistan's borders and well outside its ability to control, that has wreaked havoc with the PSL.
PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi announced the tournament would be played in empty stadiums, in a depressing reminder of the Covid years. The venues have been shrunk to just Lahore and Karachi, with the opening ceremony cancelled. The PCB has agreed to compensate franchise owners for gate money out of its own pocket, with vague hope of crowd involvement somewhere down the line should the crisis in West Asia end, though, in truth, there is general pessimism concerning any crowds this year.
The optics of an empty PSL will be an inevitable through-thread which defines this year's edition, even if there are reasons to look forward to this year's tournament. The addition of two new teams expands the league to a size befitting its global stature as one of the top T20 leagues. The reduction in the number of retained players allowed has mixed up squads and infused fresh unpredictability, effectively giving each side a reset button.
Especially with eight fresh ten-year contracts to take the PSL through to 2036. Whether the league can hold its value to justify the large sums the three new owners have put into it remains to be seen, particularly since, even at the lower 2016 valuations that five franchises have renewed, it remains far from clear that any owner has turned a profit. Team ownership remains a prestige purchase more than a legitimate money-spinning business venture, but the PSL will be aware its glamour cache is not infinite. A warning shot across the bow came when one of the owners appeared to back out of a sale weeks after the purchase of one of the new teams, with Sialkot Stallionz disappearing even before it got going.
Last year demonstrated the clash with the IPL need not be a death knell for overseas involvement, simply because there are plenty of T20 cricketers to go around. In spite of the IPL hoovering up the top-tier talent, three of the eight PSL captains this year will be foreigners. The league hosts some of T20 cricket's biggest names who may not be in the prime of their careers but remain huge draws with high ceilings.
Glenn Maxwell's indifferent recent form at the IPL makes him arguably the biggest name at this year's PSL, where he lines up for Hyderabad Kingsmen, while David Warner reprises the captaincy role with Karachi Kings. Steven Smith's arrival at Lahore's airport had something of the trappings of the furtive state visit of a foreign dignitary, where he plays for Multan Sultans under the leadership of countryman Ashton Turner, who has led Perth Scorchers to three BBL titles. No matter what changes in Pakistan cricket, reverence for Australian talent remains an unflinching constant; there are 16 Australians in the PSL this year, three of them captains.
In a world where everything must be ranked, from Ronaldo and Messi to Alcaraz and Sinner, comparing the PSL to the IPL merely because they happen to cohabit this sliver of the calendar is to spectacularly miss the point. The PCB has made no secret of its aspirations to grow the PSL into one of the more influential leagues, a goal it has achieved despite battling instability, chaos, and at times downright incompetence.
It has become a cultural touchstone of the cricketing calendar in spring, and was instrumental in ultimately returning international cricket to Pakistan after their wilderness years in the UAE. It is now a financial lifeline for the PCB, with revenue from sponsorship and broadcast rights among the largest contributors to the PCB's financial kitty - a source of funding essentially raised from thin air over a decade. They did lose Blessing Muzarabani and Dasun Shanaka when the IPL came calling, but the importance of the PSL to Pakistan is derived independently of who might be richer or more powerful.
Normality, though, remains elusive. But there is some evidence that the cricket, and the spectacle, might just make up for it.
