No more fear and loathing... Multan prepares to make its PSL debut

SAM MORSHEAD IN MULTAN: As night fell over South Punjab on Tuesday, and Multan Sultans left the city's stadium, turned right down the Vehari Road and headed back to their central hotel, the streets were lined with locals

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Multan is ready for the Pakistan Super League. 

As night fell over South Punjab on Tuesday, and Multan Sultans left the city’s stadium, turned right down the Vehari Road and headed back to their central hotel, the streets were lined with locals.

Partly, this was out of necessity - the PSL’s players are being given head-of-state treatment by the Pakistani military for the duration of the tournament, and those unlucky enough to have chosen to fill up the motorcycle with petrol at just the wrong time can expect an hour’s wait on the forecourt while two coachloads of cricketers are marshalled home to bed.

Yet among most of those who waved flash-ready phones up to passing windows, there was a very real sense of excitement.

Motorcades like this are not frequent in this region of Pakistan - the agricultural nexus of the country - and the sight of spinning lights, and most of a medium-sized battalion, hurtling through potholes certainly turned heads.

But when the convoy occasionally slowed, and the cheers of the crowd could be heard above the trundle of tyres on rubble, it was clear that this was no blind frenzy. Everyone knew who was inside.

On Wednesday, the Sultans entertain Peshawar Zalmi at their home ground. It is their third match of this PSL but their first in South Punjab; not just this year… ever.

^{The PSL players are transported under head-of-state style security detail}

While Lahore and Karachi have experienced various stages of the tournament during its four previous iterations, and Rawalpindi has hosted international cricket in recent months, Multan has been cold-shouldered. 

For political and logistical reasons, the competition has never previously come within 250 miles of Pakistan’s fifth-biggest city. Elite cricket has rarely registered here, either. The stadium opened in 2001 but underwent substantial renovations in 2018 to prepare it for the PSL. It has not staged any bigger T20 event than the Pakistani regional cup, and it is no exaggeration to say Wednesday’s match is the biggest cricketing moment for Multan since the 2006 visit of India for a one-day international.

Subsequently, it is hard to avoid. 

Banners draped in Sultans blue and green blanket the major arteries running into the city centre, while advertisers have jumped on the opportunity to flog their wares - from ghee to laundry detergent to orange juice. 

Image rights and copyright infringement do not appear to be routinely enforced, and small businesses are taking the chance to associate with this week’s ‘it’ product. 

One particularly opportunistic billboard manufacturer has planted a 40-foot wide placard of himself a couple of kilometres from the stadium. “Welcome to the Sultans,” it reads, beneath an unsanctioned image of Multan’s co-owner Ali Tareen.

Tareen’s father, Jahangir - a prominent political figure, adorns an effort from a local bus operator, the only minor problem being Tareen senior has nothing to do with the team. 

Still, it all goes to prove a point. Top-level cricket is returning to Multan, and the city is ready to celebrate.

“Multan is one of the best stadiums in the country, it has some of the best supporters in the country. Whenever there’s a domestic T20 here the crowds are filled, the crowd here love their cricket and it’s a cricket-passionate region of the country,” Sultans captain Shan Masood told The Cricketer.

^{Multan Sultans play Peshawar Zalmi on Wednesday}

“I don’t want to sound too snobbish but Karachi and Lahore have always been considered the biggest cities, Islamabad has been the capital of the country, and there is a lot to life there. People are busy and sometimes the grounds aren’t as packed as you’d get in cities like Fasalabad, Sialkot and Multan.

“Hopefully those people come to the ground and it will be very good to play in front of packed houses.”

Whether or not Multan can get close to a 30,000 sell-out remains to be seen. There are three matches in four days this week, with Karachi Kings and Quetta Gladiators following Zalmi to the area, and the stadium is situated in the sparsely populated suburbs, unconnected by public transport. 

The organisation of a PSL matchday is a delicate balance between security chiefs and the PCB - there are plans afoot for each individual ‘home’ franchise to manage these occasions from next year, and the Sultans plan on setting up shuttles to ferry fans in - and the emphasis on player safety remains the primary objective, above supporter engagement.

That makes sense. Pakistan is still recovering from the plague of terrorism which stripped it of its favourite pastime for most of a decade, and emerging through PSL5 without a hint of jeopardy will do wonders for its marketability to foreigners in the future. 

But it means the tournament remains, through no particular fault of its own, behind those which have operated uninhibited for years.

“Hosting cricket in Multan is very important because it shows that Pakistan as a country is very accessible. A lot has changed, we have learned a lot from the setbacks which happened in the past - especially the incident with the Sri Lanka cricket team,” says Masood, reflecting on how the 2009 assault on the touring Sri Lankans forever shaped Pakistan’s cricketing landscape.

“Hopefully we can have fewer checks and balances as the years go on but I think we still have a long way to go.

“We want to keep to welcoming the top players, journalists, all stakeholders involved in cricket. We want them to come to Pakistan.

“The PSL is very important. We have players from all over the globe and the PSL happening for a month in four different centres is going to make a huge statement for other teams to feel safer and secure, and to come back to Pakistan.”

^{Armed guards are commonplace outside PSL venues}

Pakistan, to this outsider, certainly feels safe, and that is a feeling shared by many of the English players currently in Multan - Moeen Ali, James Vince and Ravi Bopara are part of the Sultans set-up; Liam Dawson, Liam Livingstone and Tom Banton will pull on Peshawar yellow on Wednesday.

But as the armed guards and reinforced hotel security go to show, the fear is still there. Once that dissipates, Pakistan can focus on a tournament which already offers plenty.

“We need cricket back home, our cricketers need cricket back home, our future generations need cricket back home, and the industry needs cricket back home because it has a trickle-down effect which benefits a lot of people in the country,” Masood says.

“It brings the rich and poor together, it brings businesses together, it brings different industries together. I think after religion, cricket is the most important thing, and people skip everything to just to watch a game.

“We all need it and we’re all looking forward to cricket being back in all centres of Pakistan.”

As for the cricket itself, Wednesday’s match-up promises intrigue and explosiveness. 

For intrigue, see the unknown playing surface in Multan, the lack of T20 data from which to form team selections, and a lush outfield which will lather the ball in dew during the second innings of the game.

For explosiveness, find Banton, Livingstone and Kamran Akmal up against Moeen, Zeeshan Ashraf and Vince. 

After their long wait, the crowd - or at least those who can make it out into the suburbs and beyond the guns - are in for a treat.