Three Things That Make Pakistan Super League Different From IPL And Other Leagues

In 2008, the Board of Control for Cricket In India (BCCI) began the Indian Premier League (IPL) but little did they know that in the upcoming years it would become a global spectacle.

Currently, the IPL is one of the most cash-rich leagues in the world, with a viewership of 462 million viewers in India alone.

That figure was recorded last season, while a jump in viewership is expected in the upcoming 13th edition of IPL 2020. The league is expected to grow and reach to further heights.

India’s arch-rivals Pakistan too, kick-started their own domestic T20 league, the Pakistan Super League (PSL), following in the footsteps of IPL.

While the Indian league has already established itself as one of the top T20 tournaments in the world, the PSL is also looking to follow suit.

While it would not be fair to compare the two leagues, as IPL has been running for more than twice as many years as the PSL, still we decided to pip the two leagues in front of each other.

Here are three things that make the Pakistan Super League different from IPL and other domestic T20 leagues:

3) In the PSL there is a balance between bowling and batting

Ever since the inception of T20 cricket, it has been deemed as a format, where the batsmen reign supreme. The bowlers get decimated in this format, where there is a lot of aggressive batting and big-hitting.

And, this trend has been evident in international cricket, as well as in domestic T20 leagues across the world, where batsmen clearly dominate the bowlers.

The same can be seen in IPL as well, but it’s not a common sight in PSL, where there is a stark balance between the bowlers and the batsmen. Even stats back this claim, in 2018, IPL teams crossed the score of 200 runs 15 times, which is quite baffling.

Moreover, in the IPL, the teams were declared all-out just 12 times in 120 innings overall, but in the PSL, in the same time frame, 10 teams got all-out in 66 innings throughout the season.

2) The Pakistan Super League is unique in itself:

Take the example of Indian Premier League or the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), where the term ‘Premier League’ remains constant. There are premier leagues in other sports as well, such as the top division of football in England is called the English Premier League.

However, as far as Pakistan Super League goes, the name is different from other leagues across the globe. It is a distinct name, a unique name, that symbolises cricket. In this way, the PSL is very different from any other T20 league in the world.

While there are various ‘Premier Leagues’ around the world associated with various sports, there is just one ‘Super League’ that is synonymous with cricket, the Pakistan Super League.

1) PSL is a ray of hope for Pakistan in international cricket

Since the last ten years, Pakistan has had to suffer a lot in terms of international cricket, as teams refuse to visit the country owing to various security reasons. Due to incidents such as the attacks on Sri Lankan team bus in 2009, players don’t feel safe touring Pakistan with Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim being the latest example.

Due to such concerns, Pakistan had to host half of the matches of their own domestic competition in UAE.

However, the ongoing edition of PSL 2020, will be played entirely in the country itself, which gives them a chance to show the world that teams and players can indeed play cricket there safely.

While there has been a fair share of controversies surrounding PSL 2020 already, however, the domestic T20 league is indeed an array of hope to clean Pakistan’s image on the global front, at least in sporting terms.