10 reasons why Cricket is the most popular sport in Pakistan.

In a revealing and detailed piece, Subhan Ghani looks into why Cricket is a national obsession for Pakistanis, and why it eclipses their actual national sport in terms of popularity.

Cricket started in Pakistan in the mid-19th century when introduced by the British in the sub-continent before the separation from India.

There are many reasons why people play and watch cricket more than other sports. The national sport of Pakistan is actually hockey, but instead, cricket is played by people all over the country and is infinitely more popular as a spectator sport.

The 10 main why Cricket is the most popular sport in Pakistan

1. Cheap and affordable for everyone.

2. Can be played anywhere (stadiums, grounds, parks, streets).

3. International sports equipment industry - Sialkot

4. Highly sponsored.

5. Cricket Rivalry (India).

6. National cricketing heroes as an ideal.

7. Can be adopted as a profession.

8. Promoted at school, college and domestic levels.

9. Multiple cricket academies.

10. No discrimination.

1) Cricket in Pakistan is cheap & affordable

Cricket is a sport which can be played with various types of equipment. If you talk about a boy under the age of 7, he will play with a plastic ball and bat. When he reaches 12, he will start to play with a tennis ball tape ball.

In Pakistan, tape ball cricket is mostly played by teenagers and even some older people because it requires just a taped ball, a bat and a wicket. Tape ball cricket also doesn’t cause serious injuries like in hardball cricket. Hardball cricket requires a special ground, uniform, spikes, bat, hardball, pads, helmet, abdominal guard, thigh pad, chest guard, etc. So, more money is required for this equipment.

For a developing country, there are many cheap things of better quality compared to foreign developed countries with such prices. If you talk about the best tape ball-bat, you can buy it for 3$, and a good tennis ball with tape will be 1$ and a wicket of 2$. So, 22 players can play the whole game for about 12$.

And after each game, you don’t need to buy all the equipment again, it can be used for several months or even a year if it doesn’t have any defects. And still, if you didn’t have enough money to buy a wicket, you can replace it with bricks, wooden logs, or even with a chalk mark which is mostly used in street cricket.

But, all other sports, like hockey, squash, tennis, basketball, badminton, etc require expensive equipment, specified courts or an arena and will not satisfy the sporting needs of lots of people at any one time.

2) Cricket Can be played everywhere

The play area for cricket depends upon the cricketing level of players. If we talk about beginners, they mostly play in parks and streets where tape ball cricket is commonly played.

Then come amateur players who only play on grounds (large ones) which consist of cemented pitches for tape ball cricket. And then, there are professionals who play cricket in stadiums and special grounds with professional pitches. These players mostly play at weekends. They often book a ground or stadium from the cricket academies and pay differently for day and night with floodlight charges.

Recently, many private play-on’s have been introduced into big cities, where you can play cricket within the specified area and pay hourly. These play-on’s mainly contain carpeted trough pitches for cricket.

However, other games like hockey, squash, tennis, basketball, badminton, etc are confined to a particular play area or court.

Australian cricketer Damien Martyn playing street cricket in Pakistan - 1994

3) International Sports Equipment Industry - Sialkot

In Pakistan, Sialkot is called the ‘city of sports goods’.

In Sialkot, there are many industries which manufacture sports goods such as different bats, a variety of balls, footballs, basketballs, hockey balls, etc. Moreover, these goods are exported to European countries, America, the Arabian Gulf and some Asian countries.

This equipment is used by international organisations like FIFA, Olympics, different football leagues, etc. Because of the local export quality sports industries, sports equipment is cheap and easily available in Pakistan. Most of the top brands get their sports equipment and accessories from these industries, so these brand’s outlets are easily available within the country.

Top brands include Adidas, Nike, Reebok, Slazenger and Puma.

4) Cricket is Highly Sponsored

As cricket is played, viewed and liked by the whole country, so it has many sponsors and stakeholders.

Moreover, the Pakistan biggest mega-event, Pakistan Super League (PSL) is the platform where you see multiple sponsorships from cosmetic companies, mobile & telecommunication companies, food & beverages industries for multiple teams.

But there are many big industries who sponsors the national team like Pepsi, Coca Cola, Lays, etc. These industries also pay the players for their company’s advertisement. There are also many banks who sponsor many domestic tournaments throughout the year. Hence in Pakistan, no other sport has such a huge sponsorship compared to cricket. This association with giant consumer brands keeps the game at the forefront of the public conscious and maintains its profile as the biggest sport in the country.

5) Cricket Rivalry - Pakistan & India

From British rule on the sub-continent to being an independent nation, Pakistan has had bad relations with India from the very beginning.

During independence, many people died in both countries which resulted in anger and hate towards each other. A Pakistan-India cricket match is the most viewed, entertaining and pressurised match which is viewed by the whole world. This pressure is due to the immense expectations of the public towards players. However, if the player performs well, he will be rewarded more than enough. But if unfortunately, he doesn’t perform up to the expectations, then he will be criticised for his entire life.

The Ashes (Australia and England) is also an example of this rivalry. This rivalry also plays a vital role for a patriotic person, to play for his country.

6) Cricketing Heroes

There are many legendary national cricketers who are heroes in Pakistan. There should be someone for a beginner to look upon, a player which he considers an idol.

These cricketers include Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Saqlain Mushtaq, Abdul Qadir, and Mushtaq Ahmad, But you don’t see such a number of legendary players in other sports. Maybe there are one or two such as Jahangir Khan who stand out, but cricket has provided more sporting heroes than any other sport by far.

7) Professionalism

In Pakistan, cricket is not considered just a sport, rather it is considered a complete profession.

If a child seeks interest in cricket and has a good set of skills and talent, he goes for cricket. That is the reason behind some player’s inability to talk in the English language as most of the players are illiterate because they pay more attention to cricket compared to their studies.

But there are also some players who are masters in both fields. For example, Imran Khan (a great all-rounder with graduation in political science from Oxford University), and Misbah-ul-Haq (a great batsman as well as a great mathematician),

Nowadays, cricket is become modern by introducing multiple formats like T20 and T10 cricket which increase the pace of the game. Because of this advancement, cricket requires more fitness and agility in fielding as compared to 100 years earlier. This has opened up the door to more and more athletes trying to get into cricket.

Also, If you are a good cricketer, then you should not worry about retirement. You can become a coach (like Mushtaq Ahmad, Waqar Younis, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saqlain Mushtaq) or become a commentator (like Ramiz Raja, Wasim Akram), open a cricket academy, be an analyst on talk shows, open a brand (like Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal) or even open a YouTube channel for comments (like Shoib Akhtar, Ramiz Raja, Saqlain Mushtaq, etc).

Pakistan cricket also encourages players to participate in different foreign leagues like Big Bash, County cricket, T20 leagues, etc. This enables the player to share the experiences of different dressing rooms and to bond with the great International players.

Even if a player didn’t play for his country, he could play for different government departments like railways, gas pipelines, airlines (PIA), banks etc in different domestic tournaments with reasonable salaries. By keeping in view all these factors, many choose Cricket as a professional career.

8) Cricket is promoted at all Levels

In Pakistan, cricket is promoted at all levels of education. At the school level, there are many intra-school and inter-school tournaments from where a player can easily judge his abilities and skills. There are also many intra-college and inter-college championships where you can also register your outside team in the tournament.

Moreover, many good universities also offer such tournaments and matches. Pakistani players are recruited through a whole process of selection which starts from academy cricket, then club cricket, domestic cricket to International cricket.

There are also local trials where you can showcase your talent, for example, Lahore Qalandars put on trials annually with the best coaches and then introduce the player in the PSL after a tournament of players coming from different cities and villages. Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf are the best examples of players coming from such trials.

9 Cricket Academies

In Pakistan, there are many cricket teaching academies where one can seek quality coaching to become a professional.

A young teenager might go to school in the morning and then go to these academies in the evening for training, usually from 4 to 7 pm every day. These cricket academies are mostly owned by International cricket professionals and Ex-cricketers like Abdul Qadir, Aleem Dar, etc. By seeking such a quality player with immense talent and skill, they recommend him to national team coaches for trials.

So one who is talented and consistent will be selected and will remain in the national team until he doesn’t perform up to the mark. There is also a National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore where players do practice sessions and fitness training with cricket professional coaching staff.

The emergence of such academies has further cemented cricket as the most widely played game after the grassroots level. This potential path simply is not there in other sports, therefore as an ambitious child or parent, this is the most obvious root available to you for sporting success.

Cricket - more than a game for Pakistanis

10 No Discrimination - cricket for all

Cricket is one of sport where players are judged only by their techniques, talent and set of skills.

In the team, there can be a doctor, engineer, businessman, student, teacher, servant, sweeper, etc. In Pakistan, mostly two to three players bring the equipment and all the others share it. So this will compensate the player who didn’t have enough money to buy their own equipment, he or she can use another player’s kit.

Moreover, there is no racial or colour discrimination among people playing cricket in Pakistan, which cannot be said in all walks of everyday life.

Conclusion - Why Cricket is so popular in Pakistan

Cricket is the most played, watched, and admired sport in Pakistan. No other sport can match the passion of the people towards the game. You can see Cricket being played everywhere from tap ball, professional hardball, street cricket or even played in play-on arenas. One thing that is constant, is the enduring love for the sport by the Pakistani people.