PCB thrilled by Twenty20 Cup success,Karachi likely to be nx

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Sunday it was happy by the success of the ABN Amro Twenty 20 Cup competition and would be looking to diversify it by hosting the next edition in Karachi.

"The tournament has been a success in terms of peoples interest and crowd participation and the next step should be to take it to other major cities of the country," PCB Director media and public relations Abbas Zaidi said.

He said Karachi would most probably host the next edition, which is likely to be held at the start of the 2005-2006 domestic season during Ramazan this year when the leading players would also be available.

Although the inaugural edition of the Twenty 20 Cup didn’t see most the Pakistan players playing in all the games for their regional teams like Shahid Afridi made a token appearance for Karachi Dolphins and captain Inzamam-ul-Haq didn’t play at all, board officials said for the next edition efforts would be made to ensure all the top players participated.

More than 30,000 fans watched the final on Saturday night at the Gaddafi stadium, which saw Faisalabad Wolves beat Karachi Dolphins by two wickets after a week of quickfire games.

"It was heartening to see such huge crowds," Board Chairman Shaharyar Khan also said.

Faisalabad received 300,000 rupees (£2,700) prizemoney and Shaharyar added: "We will make the event a regular feature."

Perhaps the Asian market represents the litmus test if Twenty20 cricket is to transform itself from a novel newcomer to a bona-fide global format.

The reduced-overs game has been embraced at domestic level in England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa but the inaugural edition in Lahore was seen as the litmus test for it to take off at the global level given the money and peoples involvement Asia puts into the game.

Apart from a minor tournament last year in Bangladesh, Asia has remained slow on the concept - until now.

It goes to the credit of the Pakistan board and its sponsors ABN Amro that they earned the honor of hosting the first major domestic Twenty 20 Cup in this region and when it did happen it brought in the best crowds for a domestic match in Pakistan since the Wills Cup tournament that used to be hosted in the 80s with top players turning out for their teams.

Thus giving domestic cricket a much needed shot in the arm.

The Board officials certainly deserve credit for taking steps to infuse life in domestic cricket and their sponsorship deal with ABN Amro was the first correct step in this direction.

Apart from obvious attempts by some people in and outside the board to favour the local side during the tournament which resulted in some controversies, the board officials in conjunction with the sponsors overall did a good job of organizing and handling the big crowds.

But certainly next time the top officials of the Board need to ensure that the organization, framing and implementation of rules is done more professionally so that controversies can be avoided.

Certainly the issues that were created because of the incompetence of some lower level board officials or outsiders was not a good advertisement for Pakistan cricket given the tournament was being carried live on Ten sports and being beamed live to lot of countries.

Thanks to Twenty20 cricket, the domestic game in Pakistan is receiving a much-needed and long overdue shot in the arm.

Shouldn't the Champions of the 20-20 get a chance to host it? i.e Faisalabad!

Lets hope that people will start comming to one day - 45 over games also now. Even if we get an attendence of around 4 to 5 thousand in the next season (each match) for ABN amro cup then the domestic cricket will get a real boost. Twenty20 will be good for players in a sense that it will keep them on their toes as they will know that people are following their progress just like they follow the progress of their international heros. Though I must say seeing a full house in the twenty20 final is a matter of pride for every Pakistani.

hmm in ramzan abit stupid its a pcb organised tourney should organise before or after

I think Ramzan is perfect time though you wont see many people comming because they will be off to offering Tarawis, anyways 20 over matches are quite comman in Karachi for the past one decade in the month of Ramazan atleast thats what Haroon Rashid and Miandad said who have played all their cricket in Karachi.