The debate about whether Pakistan’s domestic cricket structure be departmental or regional is as old as the country itself. It all started in 1953‘s inaugural Quaid-e-Azam trophy when 2 departmental teams, Railways and Combined Services competed against 5 regional teams of Karachi, Punjab, Bahawalpur, Sindh and NWFP. Bahawalpur beat Punjab in the finals to win the National Title.
The scorecard of this historic match can be seen here. In my opinion, it opened this pandora box that even in 2009 we haven’t made up our mind whether domestic cricket should be regional or departmental. I think it can be both as long as they are kept separate. For example, who would have an interest in a match between Lahore and WAPDA with WAPDA players also hailing from Lahore? However a Karachi vs Lahore will be a certain crowd puller.
What makes the domestic cricket scene in Pakistan more confusing is whenever the Cricket board management changes, the format of domestic cricket tournaments also changes.
As one of those crazy fans, who actually follow domestic cricket in Pakistan, it has become painful for me to see changing policies every few years. e.g. when Tauqeer Zia was heading PCB, regional teams were given preference and all major tournaments (Quaid-e-Azam trophy and National ODI championship) were played between regional teams only. Departmental teams were allowed to compete in a separate tournament (Pentagular Cup) limited to them only. Whether Tauqeer Zia was a good chariman or not, I certainly liked the domestic tournament pattern set under his chairmanship. I think it is more competitive as well as keeps the interest alive among crowd when regions or cities compete against each other.
With current PCB management, the waters have become murky again. Both departmental and regional teams are participating in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. This policy gives regional teams no chance of any competition unless there is an out of the blue excptional performance. The reason is departmental teams are better paying sponsors and they take the best talent out of country and that leaves regional teams to field their 2nd or 3rd tier teams. Look at the points table of ongoing Quaid-e-Azam trophy, especially pool A here. It is not a surprise that Cricket nurseries like Karachi and Lahore are at down below in the pool A table.
In my recent memory a regional team in Pakistan has not won a major first class tournament when a departmental team is also playing in the same tournament. The closest a regional team has ever come in pulling such a miracle in my memory was 16 years ago in the Wills Cup Final of 1993 where Rawalpindi lost to Habib Bank and before that it was 28 years ago in Wills Cup Final of 1981-82. In 1981-82 Lahore City Cricket Association (LCCA) reached the finals where they met Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and lost to them.
In my opinion the only reason Lahore was able to reach final of that tournament was because both Imran Khan and Majid Khan were playing for Lahore in 1982. Both Imran Khan and Majid Khan have been a vocal supporters of seeing Pakistan’s cricket structure to be based on regional teams and they prefered to play for Lahore as a policy matter. See the score card of this interesting match here. Majid Khan was the second highest scorer of the tournament that year with 273 runs at 45.5 Ave and Imran Khan also scored 202 runs at an average of 40.4. In bowling Majid Khan actually grabbed the ‘Best Bowler’ award that year by taking 10 wickets at 15.2 ave. Imran Khan was second highest wicket taker of the tournament with 9 wickets at 12.11 average.
Let me throw another interesting statistic your way. The last time a regional team actually won a tournament in Pakistan in the presence of a departmental team was 35 years ago when Punjab defeated Sindh in the finals of 1974-75 Quaid-e-Azam trophy. Scorecard is here
I believe most of our informed readers know the advantages and disadvantages of regional versus departmental cricket structure. Here are some points that I want to make.
Regional Teams:
Advantages:
1. Crowd pullers
2. People feel more attached to their regional team
Disadvantages:
1. Regional teams are financially not strong – unless there is a sponsorship. They don’t have means to employ players year long.
2. In Pakistan’s particular situation, regional cricket spreads regionalism and narrow mindedness -A point made by Javed Miandad in his auto-biography – I don’t agree but this thought it out there.
Departmental Teams:
Advantages:
Cricketers are employed year long; even when they are not playing; so they can concentrate more on the game and lesser on worrying about economics.
Disadvantages:
Less crowd appeal. Crowd may come to see its favourite player playing for a departmental team but does not feel attached to a departmental team’s win or loss.
What is Your Opinion?
We would like to get your opinion. Should Pakistani domestic cricket be regional – as in most of the world – which get more crown involement or should it be departmental – which is more beneficial to the players.
ATPs Related Posts:
1. Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2006-07: This article also gives history of QeA trophy from its inauguration in 1953 to 2008.
2. Provinces and Islamabad to compete for the Cricket Title
Cricket should be played in both levels, this is how we could get more talent to play in our national team.
But one more thing is that not only cricket but other sports like hockey, basketball, boxing etc should also have funds so that Pakistan could appear as a balanced nation on the globe. This will definitely improve out image. :-)
Aqil, I have corrected my post above by mentioning Rawalpind-HBL final in 1993 as the last time when a regional team played a final against a departmental team. Thanks for pointing it out.
Aqil, you are right about Rawalpindi reaching the finals of Wills Cup in 1993. The score card of the finals is here:
http://www.pcboard.com.pk/Pakistan/Scorecards/57/5 7972.html
I totally forgot about that year. I however do remember about Irfan Bhatti of Rawalpindi being a sensation that year. He took 17 wickets for 240 in 1993 tournament. He was later given chance for Pakistan but didn’t go much farther than playing in one ODI.
Owais:
Just as a point of history, if I recall correctly, the Rawalpindi cricket association also reached the final of the Wills cup in 1993 and 1995-6. They lost to Habib bank and PIA respectively in these finals. In fact this also marked the beginning of a new period where rawalpindi was coming up and challanging the domination of Karachi and Lahore.
Up untill those days, the majority of the national team used to be either from Karachi or Lahore. But then, we started having players like Shoab Akhtar, Muhammad Zahid, Azhar Mehmood etc. (In tournaments where departments participated, most of the national players used to be in 3-4 teams, mainly HBL, PIA, UBL and ABL.)
Actually, Karachi and Lahore also used to get a lot of preferential treatment from the cricket board to the point of being unfair to other places. Case in point is the way world cup 1996 matches were distributed between the various venues. All matches involving Pakistan were given to Karachi or Lahore with one exception of the Pak vs UAE game at Gujranwalla. Pindi, Faisalabad and Peshawar did not get a single game involving Pakistan.
Have regional teams with corporate sponsors. The PIA Lahore team. This way, PIA can throw in the cash and have their banners all over the stadium, while the fans can come out to cheer for Lahore!