In his exclusive blog on PakPassion.net, renowned fast-bowling coach Ian Pont writes about his experience of the recently concluded inaugural edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) where he served as assistant head coach for the finalists, The Quetta Gladiators.

By Ian Pont (26th February, 2016)

They say in life, you get everything you deserve. 

The inaugural Pakistan Super League (PSL) gave everything and Pakistan cricket got everything it deserved. It was a simply wonderful tournament that reflected well on those associated with it.

In a strange way, the event itself mattered more to the nation than to the players. Because what was on trial here was the Pakistan Cricket Board and they passed their test with flying colours. Yes of course the results mattered, but the overall event itself became the measurement of success. And boy was it a success.

From a purely selfish perspective, it was tremendous to see Quetta Gladiators make such an impact on this tournament. This was is in no small way down to the sheer team spirit in the camp. From the mighty Sir Vivian Richards, who stole the hearts of the Pakistani nation, to the never say die attitude of the team that attracted the love of a nation, the Quetta franchise firmly put its region on the cricketing map.

Massively unfavoured by many and without a serious pace attack, we were able to get a flying start with three wins from three. We backed our powerhouse batting line up that included Ahmed Shehzad, Sarfraz Ahmed, Kevin Pietersen, Luke Wright, Kumar Sangakkara and Grant Elliott to chase down most totals. Wonderful contributions from Mohmmad Nabi and Bismillah Khan ensured this happened when sometimes least expected. But the spin department of triple-match winning Mohammad Nawaz and Zulfiqar Babar delivered more often than not to make statements about the balance within the team. Grant Elliott won two Man-of-the-Match awards with his bowling exploits.

In the end it seemed that luck was on our side when we won two consecutive matches on the very last ball. The last of which was the remarkable Aizaz Cheema over against Peshawar Zalmi that snatched victory when all seemed lost.

So the Gladiators fighting spirit was alive and well. 

However, things cannot last and despite having dispatched Islamabad twice in the round robin matches with relative ease, they hit some sort of form to take the winners trophy from us and deservedly so on the night.

There are many tremendous things that came from the PSL (2016). The first is that we've seen a showcase of local talent proving Pakistan has a great future in cricket. The second one is that the spirit in which games were played, whilst being competitive and at times spicy, the players remained friends. But thirdly we discovered that the organising committee can put on quite a show, and Dubai and Sharjah did not disappoint. It was a spectacle of noise, colour and fantastic cricket. If this is the baseline set for future events then it will be a wonderful competition to be in.

In the end Quetta ran out of gas. We definitely lacked firepower with the ball compared to other teams and perhaps we could have used resources better. But overall, we would have accepted being in the final of such a wonderful tournament.

From my side, I loved the passion and camaraderie displayed by our players, and I am very proud of the whole set of lads. What made this possible was having an incredibly passionate owner in Nadeem Omar, for whom Quetta holds a special place. His vision and drive was seized upon by staff and squad and I feel that whilst disappointed we couldn't take the trophy back to Quetta, we did the Quetta region - and Pakistan - proud. 

As for next year? I'm already counting the days. Shan-e-Pakistan!

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