In cricket world Rashid Latif the former Pakistan captain has drawn attention to differing paths that his country and India have taken, particularly regarding the transformation of cricket as a whole into a lucrative industry. These comments come after India defeated all opposition in their 2024 T20 World Cup campaign while Pakistan crashed out at the group stage.
Latif highlighted how different Indian Premier League (IPL) is from Pakistan Super League (PSL), underscoring that IPL turned into global powerhouse while PSL has just remained stagnant.
“India developed their cricket industry like they did with their film industry. We take cricket as a hobby that’s why we’re unable to turn it into business. PSL still remains where it started from? The highest salary cap is $1.40 lakh which can not be pushed further. Why don’t we have players such as Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins? It’s because we don’t have money therefore no business,” Parami News quoted Latif. He also went on to discuss how India had strategically expanded in its cricket, partly attributing their success to foreign coaches and grassroots level development.
“It’s not that India became a reckoning force in world cricket recently, after the World Cup. Go back to 2007, 2011, 2015. They learnt so much from the foreign coaches and meanwhile they work unnoticed at grassroots level then IPL came into play… And now they have everyone who stands for something among them… Ponting with DC, Hussey Bravo…But hum kya kar rahe hain?” said Latif.
Their recent victories including win in T20 World Cup and second place finish at 2023 ODI World cup highlight their dominance in white ball Cricket while Pakistan has been struggling lately to make an impact on major cricket tournaments
Latif speaks about challenges facing Pakistan’s cricketers and identifies these as significant obstacles towards creating a viable business model for professional cricket in Pakistan. He calls for a more strategic approach to lift PSL and improve Pakistan’s infrastructure of cricket.
