Pakistan Super League (PSL) is among the biggest and most popular cricketing events of sub-continent. The game giants it attracts to play is a proof alone of its might in the sporting arena. But, the fifth edition of PSL is another level of excitement, as this is the first edition to be fully played in Pakistan.
Previously, only the semi-finals and finals were played in Pakistan due to security concerns. But the untiring struggle of Pakistani authorities against terrorism has led the world to believe in its capability to protect the foreign players. Pakistan, currently is hosting Bangladesh Cricket Team for a test series, that speaks for the trust cricketing world puts in Pakistan.
Pakistan Super League has gone through 4 mighty successful seasons and made a name for itself among the biggest sporting events of the world, yet, a distinct feature of the event is its “Anthems”.
PSL is famous for the opening songs it produces with every edition of the event. Pakistanis yearn for the sport themed songs year long and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) never disappointed. But lately, PCB seems to losing its touch.
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The anthems, as Pakistanis call these songs, for first 3 seasons were sung by Ali Zafar and were extremely popular and were the trend of time. Every Pakistani could be seen humming the tunes. Ali Zafar aced the performance and made them all memorable. Ali’s “Ab Khel Jammay Ga” is still by far the most popular song of all seasons. Then, last year, PCB tested out new blood and failed miserably.
Instead of hiring from a platoon of extremely talented singers, PCB went for Fawad Khan, an actor-cum-singer, who ruined the song with his rendition of “Ye Khel Deewanon Ka”. Fawad faced backlash for ruining a much loved “event” for Pakistanis. Pakistanis did not hold back at social media sites in bashing Fawad and the song.
PSL Season 5 Anthem
But the suffering has not yet ended. The sour taste from the last year’s anthem had not yet left the mouth and PCB released “Tayyar Hain” featuring Ali Azmat, Haroon Rashid, Arif Lohar and Asim Azhar, PSL’s 5th edition anthem, and Pakistanis are not having it.
PCB released the song last night and it has been viewed for almost 0.5 million times on the official page of PCB on YouTube.
Ali Zafar has been a trend on Twitter since the release of this song. The song faced such a severe backlash that Ali Zafar popped up on Twitter and had his say.
“Ayesha calls me saying I am trending again. I am like what happened now ? Can someone tell me? :)” Yours truly #alizafar
— Ali Zafar (@AliZafarsays) January 28, 2020
Dear Fans… pic.twitter.com/5P3dxGYOVI
— Ali Zafar (@AliZafarsays) January 29, 2020
People bashed PCB for converting the PSL “Pakistan Super League” to PSL “Punjab Super League”. Even Ali Azmat’s passionate performance could not melt Pakistani hearts. The song also features Pakistani Cricket stars as Hassan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Babar Azam, Rumman Raees, Shaan Masood and Sarfaraz Ahmed.
https://twitter.com/RixviSyed110/status/1222483593974419458
The people were most irked by the anthem’s dominant “Punjabi Vibe”. The tunes, singers, dressing all were majorly Punjabi inspired. Calls were made to remake the song with Ali Zafar as the lead singer.
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People went on to call it the “worst PSL song ever”. Well, Fawad Khan can take a sigh of relief!