Monday, 30 January 2017

Specials about Qalandar Night



Like always, I was greeted with open arms by Lahore, when landed at Allama Iqbal International Airport yesterday. I am here to do hosting and related media coverage for the Lahore Qalandars, the second most expensive franchise of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Though, my employer Geo TV is the media partner of the Qalandars, however the franchise owner Fawad Rana has never enforced any employer-partner or employee- employer relationship. His friendly nature is no secret and is the reason to make the Lahore Qalandars one of the most talkative brands across the country.

I still remember my last two visits to Lahore and other cities of Punjab to cover the trials of “Jazz Rising Stars”  and I witnessed Fawad Rana and his staff’ determination and hard work to pick the selected youngsters out of thousands of young talents.  

This time the special event is the Lahore Qalandars’ send off before the second edition of the PSL and the Kit Launch of the Lahore-based Twenty-20 outfit.  However, the both formalities have been incorporated into a special Musical night where top singing performers will charge up the occasion.

This year again the kit colour of the Lahore Qalandars is red and black which are prominently depicted in their logo. Owned by Qatar-based oil giant the Qatar Lubricants the “Q” in Qalandars represent both Qatar and QALCO, while according to Fawad Rana the word Qalandar was chosen because of the significance of Sufi culture in Lahore. In the logo a mystic man performing the famous Sufi whirling with three stumps to its right and a cricket ball in the bottom, revealing the essence of spiritualism and also the passion for cricket of people of Lahore.  

In the 2017 PSL draft, Lahore Qalandars picked a number of new players specially Jason Roy, James Franklin, Chris Green and new skipper Brendon McCullum. But to me among the 2017 signings, the pairing of two great spinners of the contemporary cricket world Yasir Shah and Sunil Narine would be pivotal for Lahore in the Twenty-20 format, specially in the conditions of the UAE.




By Naseem Rajput

naseemrajput@hotmail.com

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