The (PSL) 2026 opener between Lahore Qalandars and Hyderabad Kingsmen at the Gaddafi Stadium created social media buzz for all the wrong reasons.
During the first innings, when the Qalandars were batting, the fans noticed that the ball had turned pink after merely five overs, leaving many scratching their heads. The fans quickly decoded that the pink colour might have come from the Hyderabad Kingsmen kit as players rubbed the ball against their trousers. This invited brutal trolling for Kingsmen and the on social media, with fans calling out the franchise and board for the poor quality of kits. A fan even raised serious concerns and said that the dye could cause skin cancer after making contact with players’ skin.
But that’s not all, many fans were also upset by the poor quality of the broadcast, with shaky cameras and blurry footage being noted after 4K video resolution had been advertised. Many people also reported that the audio and video were not in sync. The PSL is often dubbed as the second biggest league in the world after the IPL, and it might be true given the craze about cricket in Pakistan, but the PCB seems less bothered about the fans and more focused on getting the job done than on enhancing the viewing experience for the fans. The board expanded the league to eight teams this season, but fans were left disappointed as the quality of the broadcast was not up to the standard of a league that is trying to compete with the IPL.
Lahore Qalandars Too Hot To Handle
Meanwhile, defending champions Lahore Qalandars were off to a winning start in the PSL after a convincing win over the Kingsmen. Put into bat, Fakhar Zaman’s half-century (53) and 40 by Haseebullah Khan helped the team post a massive score of 199-6 in 20 overs. This was always going to be a tough score to chase against Qalandars’ fearsome bowling comprising Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Mustafizur Rahman. The bowlers were a bit too hot to handle for the Kingsmen as they were bowled out for 130, with Haris Rauf picking two wickets and Shaheen and Mustafizur accounting for a wicket each. Sikandar Raza and Ubaid Shah also bagged two wickets and capped off a brilliant win for the Qalandars.