When the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) was first announced in 2015, few would have bet on its survival, let alone its success. The odds were grim. Cricket in Pakistan was in exile. Since the harrowing 2009 terrorist attack on the visiting Sri Lankan team in Lahore, international sides had refused to set foot on Pakistani soil.
The Indian Premier League (IPL), already a global juggernaut, dominated the franchise cricket landscape. And within Pakistan itself, political instability meant that governments—and even cricket board chairmen—changed with dizzying frequency (there have been governments and five chairmen of the Pakistan Cricket Board in the ten years that the HBL PSL has been around).
Yet, against all expectations, the HBL PSL didn’t just survive—it flourished. It became a talent factory for Pakistan’s cricketing future, and, most remarkably, the catalyst for the return of international cricket to Pakistan. Perhaps most importantly, however, the league has been the board’s biggest revenue generator, often contributing up to half of its total income. It weathered political turbulence, security concerns, and the logistical nightmare of shifting from UAE-based exile to home soil. Throughout all this it has been the most reliable financial lifeline for the cricket board year in and year out.
What started as a reluctant export, with its inaugural season played entirely in the UAE, has since evolved into a cultural and commercial mainstay. And perhaps more than any politician or administrator, the PSL has played the most vital role in bringing international cricket back to Pakistan. In doing so, it has also become the heartbeat of the PCB’s finances, a rare story of institutional consistency and commercial imagination in an otherwise tumultuous landscape. The content in this publication is expensive to produce. But unlike other journalistic outfits, business publications have to cover the very organizations that directly give them advertisements. Hence, this large source of revenue, which is the lifeblood of other media houses, is severely compromised on account of Profit’s no-compromise policy when it comes to our reporting. No wonder, Profit has lost multiple ad deals, worth tens of millions of rupees, due to stories that held big businesses to account. Hence, for our work to continue unfettered, it must be supported by discerning readers who know the value of quality business journalism, not just for the economy but for the society as a whole.To read the full article, subscribe and support independent business journalism in Pakistan
