Fans embracing PSL, despite national team woes

Pakistan had a dismal home international cricket season, but over the last five weeks stadiums in four major cities were packed with thousands of spectators to witness a quality brand of modern-day Twenty20 cricket.

Over 25,000 spectators, mostly supporting the home team Lahore Qalandars, saw their team edge out Multan Sultans by just one run in an epic final at Gaddafi Stadium and became the first Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise to successfully defend the title in eight editions of the tournament.

The vociferous crowd got behind Pakistan premier fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi-led Lahore which beat Multan Sultans, led by one of world's top T20 wicketkeeper-batters, Mohammad Rizwan in a last ball finish.

Only hundreds of spectators had turned up during Pakistan's home international cricket season in stadiums with Pakistan drawing four test matches and losing three beside finishing on the wrong side of the result in five of the eight T20s internationals it hosted.

But fans came out in big numbers at Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Multan for the enthralling PSL games that also featured Peshawar Zalmi, captained for the first time by Pakistan all-format skipper Babar Azam; two-time champion Islamabad United and former title-holders Karachi Kings and Quetta Gladiators.

When the Pakistan Cricket Board conceived the idea of PSL, its primary objective was to bring back international cricket which was suspended since 2009 when terrorists attacked a Sri Lanka cricket team bus in Lahore. Gradually foreign teams started touring Pakistan and after hosting the first season of PSL in the United Arab Emirates, the PCB brought back its premier T20 league back in the country.

"The league has now grown bigger and stronger by the year...