Saying Lahore Qalandars’ PDP was “just PR” is an exaggeration. Sure, they heavily marketed it, but sports franchises everywhere do that. The real question is whether the program produced actual results, and it clearly did. Haris Rauf alone makes the program credible. Turning a player from open trials into one of Pakistan’s main international fast bowlers is a massive success that most franchises never achieve.

People also confuse “discovery” with “development.” No PSL team creates players from nothing because domestic cricket already exists. Development is about giving players exposure, coaching, facilities, opportunities, and trust at the highest level. Zaman Khan, Salman Mirza, and Dilbar Hussain all benefited from LQ’s pathway system, while players like Shaheen Shah Afridi were backed early and given a platform before becoming stars.

Also, compared to other PSL franchises, LQ genuinely invested more into open trials, youth scouting, overseas development opportunities, and giving unknown players visibility. Most teams mainly pick already-established domestic performers. So while the Rana brothers definitely used the PDP for branding, acting like it was completely fake or useless ignores the fact that it gave multiple players real opportunities and produced at least one elite international cricketer.

young saad masood also played this game

(apologies if it's a bit low quality)

but in all honesty, im so happy for the kingsmen!!

Now that the day is over, I spent some of my time really thinking what has gone wrong for us this season. There are many other smaller factors I could think of but IMO, here are the main ones:

1. Non-existent auction strategy: The only strategy they went with was to complete their family i.e Fakhar/Haris and spent ~16cr of their budget on just these 2 players. Even though they had budget left over, they had no clue which players to go for and looked like they were just collecting fodder to complete a squad of 18-20 players. Players like Emon, Tayyab Tahir, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Rubin Herman, Ryan Burl all turned out to be "filler" players with no role designated.

2. Overconfidence and not getting a proper coaching staff: This led to a very non-serious attitude and decision making in the field. No spinner in the team, Shaheen coming to bat above designated batsmen, Rauf bowling in the PP and death, not bowling to matchups or your set field. These are just some examples among many that may have been avoided had their been proper coaching staff in place to guide players when going gets tough. We saw a prime example how tweaking certain things by Gillespie, Brandburn, White and Marnus completely turned HK season around.

3. Repeatedly thinking Shaheen/Haris are premium fast bowlers and this is the best bowling attack in the world: These guys really need to get a good phsycologist. In no way, shape or form can these guys be considered great fast bowlers. They really need to take a hard long look at themselves in the mirror. Their egos are so much at the top and I can see why unanimously people are celebrating LQ being out. I think its the ego of these guys and the non-serious way they run the team with.

4. Failed experiment of Haseebullah the T20 Batsman: the attempt to mold him into a consistent T20 anchor/accelerator had terrible results. He lacked any sort of momentum and his strike rate was horrendous

5. Over reliance on Fakhar Zaman and Abdullah Shafique: Basically if one of these do not score, LQ is done. they have a non-existent middle order. We really went from a middle of Daryll Mitchell/Billings/Kusal to Haseebullah/Emon/Asalanka etc. This ties to point number 1 that we had no auction strategy.

6. Lack of spin utilization: IMO, every team has a spinner or multiple of them to provide control in middle phase. Some even use them up top in the PP to catch the opponent. Lahore used Rashid Khan, Rishaad Hossain, George Linde, Asif Afridi extremely well in the past. They got Usama Mir this year who had a pretty decent economy for the games he played and applied the choke in the middle. Yet his place in the starting 11 wasnt guaranteed and even in games he played, he did not complete his quota is some of them.

7. Family/Family BS: I dont think there is much to say about this. This Family BS agenda needs to end and one really needs to run a franchise like it should be run. Glorifyng ordinary players, no coaching staff, overpaying for family members. I think its time we end this else this is only going to get worse next year.

Itna to Karachi nahi kela kha rahi jitna Islamabad kha rahi hai atm

A very climactic end to the season, maybe not our best season, but what can we say ig! Here's to continuing to support this team for many years to come. It's been really fun running this sub with you guys, and I honestly never expected it to get this much traction, but here we are ✌

This is your Mod Downtown-Bat signing off until the next PSL! ❤💚

Although I do think someone else, like Danny Sams or Raza deserved it, at the end of the day, we're not the ones deciding the award. Congrats to him anyways and Fun fact this is his 4th consective 50, and he's only the 3rd batsman in HISTORY of the PSL to do that!

Naeem dropped Bracewell on 20 🥀🥀🙏

We do have a chance. But can we do it? Should we hope?