The former Australian captain Steve Smith has slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board for conducting the Pakistan Super League behind closed doors. Franchise leagues are often built on the craze of fans and the quality of players that are present. The Pakistan Super League has been an exciting league in the past with a wide variety of talent and the support of the fans. But in the 2026 edition of the PSL, the PCB took a harsh decision to not allow the fans into the stadiums. This move was widely criticised by the players and the management due to the lack of atmosphere that was being built in the league during matches.
"It’s a shame that we haven’t crowds. It’ll be cool to play in front of some packed stands, that’s why we love playing cricket. But, you know, it is what it is, and you get on with it. I’m sure plenty of people are watching us on TV,” said Steve Smith. He has been part of a wide variety of leagues across the world and he surely knows a thing or two about crowd engagement. It has undoubtedly been a harsh decision from the PCB, despite the welfare reasoning behind it.
Empty stands controversy adds to growing concerns over PCB’s decisions and league management
The Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Mohsin Naqvi had earlier specified that there were security threats and that’s why the crowds weren’t being entertained. The fans had expressed their disappointment as they celebrated the league like it’s a festival. But then later on after receiving heavy criticism from the fans, the PCB changed their stance. Then they cited reasons behind fuel shortages and logistical reasons. They even reduced their number of venues to just two. PCB stated that the decision was taken in consideration with the welfare of the people as they didn’t want them to use fuel and worsen the situation to just watch the match in stadiums. However, this decision had taken another hit when certain politicians were present at the match and the fans questioned if the shortages or resource issues are only applicable to the common people. The questions regarding the empty stands were constantly raised at the players and every one of them were clearly disappointed with it.
However, the main issue is that the focus of the Pakistan Cricket Board is on comparing the PSL to the IPL. Even the Pakistani fans had blatantly criticised the board for their harsh decisions as they are not taking any decision to uplift the quality of cricket played by their nation. The Pakistan star cricketer, Salman Ali Agha had taken the blame upon himself and his team in a recent interview when asked about the lack of crowd. He said that the quality of cricket that Pakistan has been playing is not good enough to attract fans and that they will have to up their game.
The criticism from Steve Smith will serve as another strong hit to the Pakistan Cricket Board for their management issues. This is not the first time that a player has criticised the league as Blessing Muzarabani’s agent had also expressed his concern over the unnecessary 2-year ban. PCB will have to take such criticisms in the right manner and come back stronger with much wiser decisions.
