"India developed a cricket industry. We treat cricket as a hobby"- Rashid Latif points to Pakistan's lack of growth with IPL-PSL comparison
Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif pointed to the massive difference between their cricket and India's and how the neighboring country has grown theirs into an industry. Team India recently won the 2024 T20 World Cup title without losing a game while Pakistan were eliminated in the group stages.
Both teams have fed off the varying success of their respective T20 Leagues, the Indian Premier League (IPL) and PSL (Pakistan Super League). However, Latif highlighted how the IPL has transformed into a global brand and one of the biggest sporting leagues in the world compared to the PSL.
He was quoted as saying by News18:
"India, just like their film industry, developed a cricket industry. We treat cricket as a hobby that’s why we couldn’t turn it into a business. PSL is still there from where it had started. The highest salary cap is $1.40 lakh. Why can’t they push it further? Why can’t we have players like Mitchell Starc or Pat Cummins? Because we don’t have the money so there’s in no business."
"It’s not that India became a reckoning force in world cricket recently, after the World Cup. Go back to 2007, 2011, 2015. They have gained so much knowledge from the foreign coaches and at the same time, they are working at the grassroots level without being noticed. And then IPL came into play. And now, they have all the best minds with them. They have Ponting with DC, Hussey, and Bravo. But hum kya kar rahe hain," Latif added.
While India have gone from strength to strength in white-ball cricket, winning the recently concluded T20 World Cup and finishing runners-up in the ODI World last year, Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi-final in both events.
"BPL has more foreign players than PSL" - Rashid Latif
Rashid Latif further stated how even the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) has progressed better with more overseas stars than the PSL. The BPL started over a decade back in 2012 and the PSL had its first edition in 2016.
"People who conceptualized PSL were thrown out within a year. They had a vision to expand it but it never happened. Humse zyada players Bangladesh mein khel rahe hain (BPL has more foreign players than PSL). Moeen Ali is there, and so is David Miller, just because they have the money. We couldn’t progress," said Latif in the same interaction.
Despite boasting well-reputed T20 leagues, Bangladesh and Pakistan have fallen well behind the eight-ball in limited-overs cricket compared to India.