Every year, PSL songs take the limelight as fans get divided over the best Pakistan Super League song, comparing them to previous years, while artists take it as a challenge to put up their best.
This year, The Current has exclusive insights to a new controversy, which involves a seasoned artist – Ali Zafar.
A source who spoke to us claimed that Ali Zafar was, once again, trying to lobby for the PSL anthem.
According to a source, PCB was in talks with Ali Zafar to sing this year’s anthem but some PSL franchises pushed back saying the artist would tarnish the PSL brand because of the controversies surrounding him.
In response to our article previously published, Ali Zafar had this to say:
“I was indeed officially contacted by PCB to create the PSL anthem for this year. After working on it for two months, hiring musicians and music producers at my personal expense, I came up with three different versions of the anthem for the PCB to choose from. After one of them was finalized and the release was being planned, I was informed that PCB can’t go ahead with the anthem for reasons that I would not like to disclose at this point.
I wish the next team all the best with their endeavours.”
What Happened?
To show his social media strength and popularity to counter PCB’s reasoning, Ali Zafar went over to social media with a plan.
On January 12, Zafar posted on X (formerly Twitter), asking if an anthem by him will “enhance the image of the brand of PSL and PCB, deepen the connection with people, and bring more financial benefit to all stakeholders or will it prove to be otherwise?”.
Do you think that if I did the anthem of PSL this year, it will enhance the image of the brand of PSL and PCB, deepen the connection with people, and bring more financial benefit to all stakeholders or will it prove to be otherwise? Be honest with your votes. I have no ego and I…
This was followed by a poll, adding that “I will explain later, why I have posted this tweet”.
But when the results started to apparently turn against him, Zafar deleted his poll. This was followed by a post claiming that the polls were rigged with the help of bots.
“Told you to wait to see why I started the poll”, he said.
X users started trolling Ali Zafar because in the screenshots of polls he shared, the time stamp is the same throughout, indicating, according to users, that the pictures were photoshopped.
X (formerly Twitter) Reacts
Bhai images pe time stamps tau sahi tarah photoshop kar letay fazool excuses banaaney se pehlay.
Had to delete your own poll after your terrible plan backfired.
In January 2016, while performing at the launch event of the team Islamabad United, Ali Zafar released the team anthem “Chakka Choka” and performed it in the opening ceremony of PSL 2016 the following month.
Then in 2017, Zafar released the anthem for that year’s PSL “Ab Khel Jamay Ga”.
Controversy
In 2018, singer Meesha Shafi accused Ali Zafar of sexual harassment which Zafar denied, taking the matter to court and filing a defamation case against Shafi for slander.
While the case is still ongoing, Ali Zafar has been under heavy criticism for his condescending tone towards Shafi in interviews, while award shows and the entertainment industry has been condemned for engaging him.
Billions of topics are searched on Google every day and at the end of every year, the search engine releases a list of the most popular searches.
Google has now released a list of the most searched topics in Pakistan during 2023.
The eight different categories disclosed include cricket matches, events/occasions, how-to, news, recipes, TV shows and movies, technology and personalities.
So, what has been searched under these categories?
Cricket games
Pakistan vs New Zealand was the most searched match in this category followed by the match between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistan versus Australia in third, then India versus New Zealand, followed by Pakistan versus Netherlands in fifth place.
Events/Occasions
Pakistan Super League is at the top of this category followed by the Cricket World Cup, Asia Cup, Indian Premier League while the Ashes is on the fifth, respectively.
Movies and TV shows
This year in Pakistan the most searched movie was surprisingly from Hollywood rather than a Pakistani or Indian movie.
Oppenheimer was the most searched followed by Shahrukh Khan’s Jawan (second) and Pathaan (third).
Hollywood film Barbie was at the fourth position while Bollywood film Tiger 3 came fifth in the category.
News
The Gaza war topped the category in news that Pakistanis searched on Google.
This was followed by Ehsaas program, Aliza Sahar, Akshay Kumar while Kajol came fifth, respectively.
Recipes
Forever-food-lovers, Pakistanis searched for samosa recipes followed by kaleji and then sheer khurma.
Recipes for namkeen gosht and tomato ketchup recipes came in fourth and fifth respectively.
Technology
The top search in this category is not surprising as it has attracted people from all over the world over the past year: ChatGPT — chatbot based on artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which was introduced in November 2022 and went global in 2023.
Cricket is the third most popular sport in the world with approximately 2.5 billion fans spread across the globe. The gentleman’s game, mocked at times for being slow, has morphed into a fast-paced, adrenalin- pumping speedy ride.
The first international match between two countries was played between United States of America (USA) and Canada in New York in 1844, but the fact that the International Cricket Council (ICC) did not exist in 1844, means this match wasn’t recognizes as an official game. The first official cricket match was played between Australia and England in Melbourne in 1877.
The first cricket World Cup was organized in 1975 in England, with the mighty West Indies walking away with the trophy.
How India destroying cricket for other countries?
India won just two matches in the 1975 and 1979 World Cup tournaments, the weakest team at that time. Wisden Sports magazine’s Chief Editor David Frith had infamously written in an article that a team like India should not play in the tournament if they have not improved and if a team like India wins, “I will eat my words.”
In the 1983 World Cup, India won four out of six matches in the group stage, cementing their place in the semi-finals where they defeated England by six wickets.
The final was played between India and West Indies, the hot favorite team after winning two World Cups in a row. All the odds were stacked against India, but the country created history on June 25, defeating West Indies at Lords, and lifting the Cup.
The historic win gave Narendra Kumar Prasadrao (NKP) Salve the confidence he needed to grab the mantle of the British’s own game from them. NKP Salve befriended Sri Lanka and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to form the Asian Cricket Committee, on which ICC had no control in 1984. They arranged a tournament between Asian teams, named Asia Cup. This was Salve’s way of telling Britishers that the southern countries could host tournaments too.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had no money to host a World Cup at first. Salve asked Pakistan to host the next world cup together. Then Salve contacted Dhirubhai Ambani with the help of Indira Gandhi. When the money was arranged, Mr. Salve put forth his proposal at the next ICC Meeting.
There was no rule before this that a new nation will host a World Cup. NKP Salve proposed a Rotational Policy. According to this policy “A new nation will host the World Cup after every four years.”
Australia and New Zealand agreed, . And when voting took place, India and Pakistan got the hosting of 1987 World Cup.
It was a success, but BCCI didn’t make any money 30 years ago. Even after the 83 tournament, Indian players would get INR 200 per day allowance and 1500 as match fees.
The South African cricket team was returning to international cricket in 1991 after a gap of 21 years and they were going to play their first three match ODI series against India.
At that time Indian television Doordrshan was broadcasting these matches and they were charging money for broadcasting instead of paying, and BCCI was just earning on tickets and on-ground advertisements.
But this time they kept the broadcasting rights in their hand and sold it to South African television channel for $200,000.
On the same year India opened their market for globalization foreign companies. New money started floating into India at the same time, these foreign companies wanted to market their products in India and nothing was watched more than cricket.
Because of satellite television, cricket was now seen even in small villages of India. It was great for these companies and BCCI. In 1993, India sold broadcast rights of England’s tour of India to a broadcasting company TWI for $600,000.
In no time, BCCI became the richest cricket board in the world. However, things change after you get rich. Remember, how NKP Salve grabbed 1987’s World Cup from England. It was decided according to rotational policy that England will host 1996’s World Cup.
But in 1996, a broadcaster named Mark Mascarhanes made an offer to BCCI that if India hosts the tournament, then he would give $ 14 million for broadcasting. BCCI liked the offer and got the hosting of 1996 World Cup.
But in 1996, Australia and West Indies refused to play their matches in Sri Lanka. Then a BCCI administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya thought, ICC’s next Chairman should be an Asian.
In 1997, Dalmiya contested ICC elections, and won.
But the question is, how?
Actually Mr. Dalmiya knew one thing, that most of ICC’s full time members would vote for the English Boards favorite candidate. At that time, associate teams had one vote each in these elections, but the representatives of these associate teams had no money to be present in the elections being held in London.
So Mr. Dalmiya bought tickets for representatives of associate teams, booked hotels in London for them, even hosted a dinner party for them before elections and when elections happened these representatives voted for Mr. Dalmiya and he won. Now an Indian was the boss of the world of cricket.
Indian Premier League (IPL) is the second richest sports league in the world, with a net worth surpassing 15 billion dollars but IPL is not the only T20 cricket league in the world. Every cricket Board has made their own cricket leagues, but BCCI does not allow their players to play in these leagues.
BCCI knows, value of these leagues might increase because of Indian viewership and if their value increases it might dilute the power of BCCI. So Indian players are not allowed to participate.
These boards have become so weak that they have to listen everything that BCCI orders because these boards only make money when India tours their countries. BCCI uses this very thing to get their things done in world cricket.
In 2012 England’s former Chief Justice submitted an independent report to ICC In which, he suggested some changes in governance. He felt that ICC shouldn’t be a Member Club Cricket Power is leaning to one side especially towards India. Associate nations aren’t getting enough funds, cricket won’t grow in these countries without funds.
BCCI takes the biggest share, ICC has only 12 full time members and 96 associate members. These members are underfunded. There is no chance that, cricket will grow in these countries without funds. Once $30,000 were given to the Chinese cricket board to improve cricket there. [2008 stats, current stats are not published]. China’s population is around 1.5 billion, how’s that even possible, that cricket will grow in country like China with such a small fund?
It’s not only about associate nations, even full time members are being further weakened. If we see the latest ICC Men’s Future Tours Program India will play most of the matches with top teams and with Zimbabwe and Ireland, India will play three and two matches respectively in five years, when Zimbabwe and Ireland are also full time members.
As far as the administrators of the game are concerned, they don’t care about West Indies Cricket. West Indies Cricket Board is bankrupt today, two times world champion team couldn’t even qualify for World Cup 2023, just because of lack of funds. How will these teams, cricket boards grow without the funds?
ICC is unofficially run by BCCI and instead of growing the game, they are shrinking it. In 2007’s World Cup, 16 teams played the tournament, and in 2023’s, only 10 teams participated. Apart from this there were 26 teams in International Association Football Federation (FIFA) World Cup 2006, and now there are 48 teams participating in 2026 World Cup.
You know why?
In 2007’s World Cup, India was eliminated early from the tournament, they could only play three matches. Broadcasters had to face a loss. If India had played more matches, broadcasters would have benefitted. BCCI reduced the teams and the format is designed in a way that India will definitely play nine matches.
BCCI doesn’t care about winning World Cups, they just want to make money. I feel, this sport should spread like football all around the world. With only 10 teams, it’s becoming boring and I think cricket has power to spread peace and happiness.
HowBCCI is killing Cricket:
You won’t believe it, from 2024 onwards, there will be no international cricket played for 2.5 months, only IPL. Isn’t this the murder of the sport we love so much?
Indian cricket is mostly run by Indian politicians and businessmen. Arun Jaitley’s son is president of Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA). Rajasthan’s CM’s Son Vaibhav Gehlot is President of Rajhistan cricket Association (RCA,) Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew is a President of Mumbai cricket association (MCA), Anurag Thakur, BJP politician, was a president Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) from there he became a president of BCCI.
Today his brother is a president of HPCA. Ashok Sigamani is president of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), the son of a Minister Jyotiradhitya Scindia is the president of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), his father was president of BCCI.
BCCI treasurer Chirayu Amin’s son Pranav Amin is Bihar cricket association (BCA)’s President, Sourav Ganguly’s brother is a President Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and the most fun example of this is Gujarat cricket associations former president was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He gave that post to Amit Shah after becoming Prime Minister and today, Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah is the secretary of BCCI and I’m only talking about a few states here.
Cricket shouldn’t be run by politicians and businessmen, it should be run by former cricketers, that’s it. I’m the biggest fan of cricket, like any Pakistani, I can’t bear to see one private organization is controlling the growth of this game. I want this sport to grow all over the world because this sport can do many good things.
Afghanistan cricket team is one such example, these players initially used to live in refugee camps, they played World Cup in 2015 and you know what, Afghanistan cricket was initially helped by Pakistan.
But it feels like there are people in BCCI who don’t care about the growth of this game. They just want to make money, they just want to keep their power safe, even if they have to kill this centuries old sport to achieve that.
Note: This information is collected from various platform, like cricket websites, YouTube, Facebook etc.
Imam ul Haq is the next cricketer in line to sign off bachelorhood and get married. Yesterday, social media went wild when pictures posted by fashion designing giant HSY revealed the gorgeous bride Anmol Mehmood, who is set to tie the knot with the cricketer in Norway this month.
Anmol looked dazzling in maroon bridal attire adorned with gold patterns, and a pinch of green to pop off the look Her jewellery comprised of a manga tikka and heavy jhumkay, along with green bangles to top off her look.
Samaa has revealed that HSY charges around Rs1.5 million for a custom made dress. The bride’s jewellery is from Opal by Madiha Ihsan.
Social media users were also provided a sneak peek to the elaborately crafted Mehndi celebrations held in Norway which were set up by Tailor Made Vision.
Wedding festivities are set to commence from November 23 with a Qawalli night in Lahore, and the Nikkah is to be held on November 25. It is reported that cricket stars including Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi and Shadab Khan will be present during the joyous occasions.
Previously, HSY had crafted the bridal outfit for veteran actress Reema Khan for her wedding.
After India’s historic loss against Australia in the ICC Cricket World Cup final, fans were devastated. Some chose to lash out at Australian players, posting misogynistic and degrading slurs on the Instagram profiles of Australian cricket players Travis Head and Glenn Maxwell as well as their wives.
An Indian firm named Marketing Moves is going viral after they offered a day off to their employees to recover from India’s loss.
“Hi team,” the message read. “In light of India’s loss in the recent WC, we recognise the impact on our team members. To offer some support during this time, the company has decided to grant a one-day leave relaxation. We believe this will provide an opportunity for everyone to regroup and recover. Let’s come back stronger.”
Pakistani commentator and former cricketer Ramiz Raja landed in a storm of controversy when a viral video showed him laughing at a racist joke about West Indies cricketer Sir Viv Richards and his former partner actress Neena Gupta.
The clip was from Cricket Mastiyan on Suno News HD where Ramiz was seen laughing about a racist joke regarding Vivian’s skin color. One of the hosts said: “I do watch cricket matches and my heart broke when Vivian Richards went into a relationship with Neena Gupta. I wrote a couplet then. ‘Jo ladkiyan khud ko kehti hain malika-e-aliya, Unko fir milta hai Mr Kaliya.’”
The couple’s daughter, fashion designer Masaba Gupta slammed Ramiz, calling him out in a tweet on X (formerly Twitter)
“Dear Ramiz Raja (sir) grace is a quality few have. My father, mother, and I have it in spades. You have none. Sickening to see you laugh on national TV in Pakistan at something the world stopped laughing at about 30 years back. Step into the future. All 3 of us are here with our chin up.”
Dear Ramiz Raja ( sir ) grace is a quality few have. My father,mother and I have it in spades. You have none. Sickening to see you laugh on national TV in Pakistan at something the world stopped laughing at about 30 years back.Step into the future. All 3 of us are here with our…
Sharing her tweet on her Instagram account, Masaba wrote she will never stop calling out those who target her mother with racist comments.
“It’s nearly 2024 – no matter who you are I will call you out on racism and shaming my mother on television. Won’t have it. That is still my fight.”
The incident follows the scandal of former cricketer Abdul Razzaq who was slammed for a misogynistic comment about Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai during a panel. Shahid Afridi, sitting next to Razzaq, laughed at the distasteful comment.
Razzaq has since issued an apology.
Social media users applauded Masaba for calling out sexist behavior, and slammed Pakistani cricket players for using women as punching bags to score points.
Pakistani men continue to be a global source of embarrassment for us https://t.co/q0pCgaOcvA
Former cricketer Abdul Razzaq sparked outrage on Tuesday when a video of him passing degrading comments about Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai went viral. Former cricketers Shahid Afridi and Umer Gul were sitting with Razzaq at a panel where the current team’s performance was being discussed. They could be seen laughing at the misogynistic statement.
Several X (formerly Twitter) users described their disgust by slamming the cricket player as sexist.
Such a textbook Pakistani uncle, who would flaunt his extra marital affairs or crack vulgar jokes but the next moment also lament on moral depravity of women. https://t.co/mS55ae6WyU
Razzaq has now apologised for his comments, saying that he did not intend to hurt anyone’s sentiment.
“Yesterday, we were talking about cricket coaching and intentions. I had a slip of tongue and mistakenly took Aishwarya Rai’s name while I was supposed to give another example. I apologise to her personally. I did not intend to hurt anyone’s sentiment,” Abdul responded.
Shahid Afridi also apologised for laughing at Abdul’s sexist remark. Speaking to a private news channel, the former captain revealed he laughed because everyone was enjoying the moment.
“I saw the clip when I went home and realised that Abdul Razzaq made a wrong statment. I knew he had a mike in his hand and will say something. He has a habit of getting beaten by shoes. I will just text him tio apologize for what he said as it was wrong.”
Pakistani fast bowler Shaheen Afridi married Ansha Afridi, the daughter of former cricket star Shahid Afridi, in a star-studded celebration that went viral on social media. The two tied the knot in Karachi and later held wedding festivities in September.
Speaking on Samaa TV’s podcast, ‘Boom Boom’ Afridi opened up about why he chose Shaheen to be his son-in-law.
“His family and mine had been talking about this topic for a long time,” Shahid said. “Shaheen is a very good human being. I had not known him personally but the elders in our family knew each other very well, but their contact had faded. A lot of people who played domestic cricket with Shaheen praised him for being very mature, well mannered. All these things were very important for me to know what kind of a person he is.”
Shahid was then asked about the chances of developing a career in Bollywood, to which the former cricketer replied:
‘”Yes, I got an offer two to three times, in India as well, I think one should only do something that he can. My identity was cricket, I was never in movies, and neither was my family into that so I never thought of that. It was fine doing some acting in TV commercials but that was it.”
Pakistan’s chances of making the semi-finals of the Cricket World Cup are on a knife-edge after their eight-wicket defeat to Afghanistan.
AFP Sport looks at three problem areas for Babar Azam’s falterinordinary
World class bowling looks ordinary
Pakistan’s bowling was touted as world class before the Asia Cup and when they restricted a strong India side to 266 all out in a washed out game at Pallekele, commentators saw it as a major warning to World Cup rivals.
But two weeks before the showpiece event, key fast bowler Naseem Shah was ruled out with a shoulder injury.
Spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi has 10 wickets in five games in India but has failed to make an early impact — his 2-36 against India and 5-54 facing Australia came in losing causes. In the opening wins over Netherlands and Sri Lanka, he managed two wickets at a combined cost of 103 runs.
Haris Rauf has leaked runs, conceding 286 in five games for eight wickets while the spinners have lacked bite on the slow and turning pitches of India. Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz and Iftikhar Ahmed have just six wickets in five matches between them, conceding 502 runs.
Captaincy in question
Babar Azam is one of the top batsmen in white ball cricket — he has two fifties at the World Cup — but his captaincy has been questioned and he has faced accusations of lacking aggression in field settings.
Pakistan media have consistently accused him of favouring his friends in selection.
“As far as captaincy is concerned, I don’t have much pressure on me or on my batting. I try to give my best in batting,” Babar said after Monday’s loss to Afghanistan.
“During fielding, I think about captaincy and during batting I just think about the batting.”
Babar has won some sympathy in India for his team having to play in front of crowds where Pakistan fans have been effectively banned.
Tight security has also meant that the squad is virtually confined to their hotels once their playing and training commitments are completed.
Lack of planning
There have been frequent, unsettling changes in the the Pakistan Cricket Board set-up — three chairmen in the past year — which hurt planning for the World Cup.
Former chairman Najam Sethi brought in Mickey Arthur as team director but he also kept his Derbyshire county job in England.
Directing the team from the UK, he was criticised in some media as a “Zoom coach.”
Pakistan officials have also been accused of failing to manage the workload of their fast bowlers with Naseem and Shaheen playing all three formats.
Naseem’s most obvious replacements, Ihsanullah and Mohammad Hasnain were also unfit, forcing Pakistan to recall Hasan Ali.
“You were not able to find a coach and since you liked foreign ones you hired an online coach. We change our system frequently and that is showing in our performance in the World Cup,” said former Pakistan great Wasim Akram.
The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad witnessed a high-octane World Cup clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan on Saturday. The world’s biggest cricket stadium was filled to capacity as more than one lakh spectators came to watch the most anticipated match of the year.
But while the majority of the fans got what they wished for and went back home with smiles on their faces after India’s resounding victory, a section of the crowd was left wondering who stole their mobile phones.
Bollywood actress Urvashi Rutela couldn’t see Naseem Shah bowl due to his recent injury and unfortunately lost her phone during the match too.
“Lost my 24 carat real gold i phone at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad! If anyone comes across it, please help. Contact me ASAP! Tag someone who can help,” Urvashi tweeted on Sunday.
A video by Indian sports journalist Vikrant Gupta is currently going viral on social media, wherein he disclosed incidents of mobile phone and purse thefts during the Pakistan-India match in Ahmedabad.
Gupta stated, “While entering the ground, my friend’s mobile phone was stolen from his pocket, and several other spectators also reported incidents of mobile and purse theft.” Criticizing security officials, he highlighted the possibility of mismanagement and security issues in handling such a massive crowd. He emphasized that thefts taking place in the ground surpass the concerns of mismanagement and security glitches.
I don’t understand why were so many precious items stolen from the stadium in Ahmedabad? Why are there so many thieves? Really glad Vikrant ji raised this issue Shukar hay Pakistan fans weren’t there otherwise unka bhi nuksaan hojata #CWC23pic.twitter.com/PzHtKwAQjl
Meanwhile, there was one fan who even got his iPhone back as a security guard managed to catch the thief.
Lost my iPhone outside the Narendra Modi Stadium Gate No. 3 today.Someone stole it from my bag, not just me, but security guard caught him and brought my phone back to me after the match today. Excellent management by security, great administration, Thanks 2 Guj BJP gov #indvpakhttps://t.co/wM5r3kDu9y
User @shizmaite wrote, “Chaos at the gates & no one to handle the crowd. A good day ended on a bad note! #indvpak”
Lost my iPhone outside the Narendra Modi Stadium Gate No. 1 today.Someone stole it from my bag, not just me, hundreds more lost their phones after the match today. Pathetic who have done it. Chaos at the gates & no one to handle the crowd. A good day ended on a bad note! #indvpak
