PSL production standard as good as IPL and BBL, say Pakistan-Singapore consortium heads

After the BCCI started the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, its sky-high success saw other cricket-playing countries in the world also inaugurating their own versions of the domestic T20 league featuring international players.

Arch-rivals Pakistan, too, started their own T20 league called Pakistan Super League (PSL) in 2016 despite challenges and thus year, it is being staged entirely in Pakistan after the UAE served as full and partial hosts in the first four years. And the organisers now believe that the production standard of the PSL is as good as successful contests such as the IPL and Big Bash League (BBL), Australia.

A consortium of Tower Sports, registered in Pakistan, and SportzWorkz, Singapore, has roped in a high-quality production crew to ensure that the quality of broadcasting in the PSL is maintained and also improved, given the fact that it is being organised completely on Pakistani soil.

Aly Rana, the CEO of Tower Sports, lauded the production of PSL as something that holds its own against other major T20 leagues like the IPL and BBL and told Cricket Pakistan– “We have state of the art setup and are using some of the best cricket production equipment in the world including Hawkeye, Spidercam, drones, augmented reality and the highest quality HD cameras, which are used in some of largest global sporting event.”

“Our crew’s experience is second to none, our team which has been brought in from about 17 different countries, has covered some of the biggest events in the world, including the Cricket World Cups. Our goal was to bring a world-class production to Pakistan, and no short cuts have been taken in production to ensure that. PSL is one of the best leagues in the world and our job is to display that to the world.”

“You can compare the PSL production with any major cricket league or tournament globally, you will not find the production quality lacking,” he added.

PSL 2020 final will be played in Lahore on March 22

Chris McDonald, chairman of SportzWorkz, has over 30 years of sports television experience in Asia. One of the co-founders of Ten Sports of which he was the CEO between 2000-2009, seconded Rana’s thought to say: “It is absolutely fair to say that the production quality of PSL 2020 rates right at the top with Big Bash and IPL,” said McDonald.

“We are also introducing some new aspects to cricket production this PSL – including Urdu commentary (and notably, the first female Pakistani commentator, in both Urdu and English – helping to broaden PSL’s appeal to Pakistani women and girls), postcards from Pakistan, and a centralized studio production which cuts back and forth to the grounds, and which is available (along with the live match feed) to broadcasters around the world.”

On the ground, PSL 2020 is gaining momentum too. At around the middle stage of the tournament, Multan Sultans are leading the points table with four wins from five games while two-time champions Islamabad United were at the second place with three wins and as many losses but they have already played seven matches. The final will be played in Lahore on March 22.