hen the Pakistan cricket team left for its World Cup 2023 campaign, it was hailed as the most balanced and best-assembled squad since 1999.There was hope that they would at least reach the semi-finals, breaking our 12-year drought. However, fears lingered, especially after a poor display in the recent Asia Cup. The optimists hoped for the best while the pessimists kept pointing out weak links in leadership and planning. Unexpectedly, the poor performance of the team took a backseat as some ex-cricketers and the board made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

It would not be unfair to say that World Cup 2023 received unprecedented coverage and followers unlike any of its previous editions. With dozens of national television channels, hundreds, perhaps thousands of YouTube channels and millions of experts on X, it was always going to be a tough ride for Babar and Co.

Yet, seeing ex-cricketers ganging up and promoting particular agendas was disappointing. The irony lay in the fact that the players appearing together on different channels had formed similar groups while playing for Pakistan.

Even on our national television, the entire panel was made up of like-minded individuals with biases towards the captain, some players or even the management unless they secured a job in the same system they daily call rotten and useless. Essentially, the approach adopts a particular narrative leaving no space for opposing or different opinions.

While it is understandable that these individuals are called to these shows to use their experience to highlight the team’s shortcomings, poor performances and decisions of the team management including the captain, coaching staff and players, making wild claims and accusations without substantial evidence is counterproductive. Their conspiracy theories and accusations did not help constructively.Rather, these served to garner likes and more screen time for themselves.

Sadly, even our cricket board joined this madness, issuing unnecessary and poorly phrased press releases. A former captain, proud to be a whistleblower, made a claim about the board chairman and the captain, leading someone in a higher position to leak a private conversation of Babar Azam without the latter’s consent.

The journalist who shared the screenshot clearly mentioned that he had not asked for the former captain’s permission. However, the next thing you saw was the interim chairman of the board giving him an exclusive interview. This kind of enabling only encourages these people to turn every conversation into a conspiracy theory.

Some shows were appreciated not just in Pakistan but also across the border for their on-point analysis. One such show, hosted by four former captains who faced and participated in enough political games in their days, focused more on bringing out the humour and light side of the game via stories from their days.

Some former players who were part of what seemed to be a comedy show covering the World Cup often crossed the line with offensive jokes, disappointing language and criticism stemming from their biases. They used to take the high moral ground while, frankly, some of them teeter on the edge themselves when it comes to ethics.

It seems that the strategy is the same as in some of our political shows: be loud, be aggressive, go personal in attacks and people will react to it.

Other than the legends of yesteryears, most of these players have actually played or spent some time with the current lot.They are well aware of the pressure these players go through during a high-profile tournament. The on-field results of the campaign, which turned out to be our worst in terms of the number of defeats, did not help. It was evident that they were highlighting things that could not be addressed right away. None of them seemed to offer any solutions; rather, it was simply one bashing after another. It went from bad to worse when a former captain and chairman of the board were found laughing at a racist comment on the legendary Sir Viv Richards, supposed to be part of a ‘comedy skit.’

Another video went viral where one of our former cricketers was trying to make a comparison through an example that degraded an Indian actress. After severe backlash (and probable loss of future commercial deals due to the heavy influence of India’s economic power), he apologised only to say that he took the wrong name, which kind of missed the original point, i.e., don’t use women for your jugaatbaazi materials.

Some shows were appreciated not just in Pakistan but also across the border for their on-point analysis without personally bashing players. One such show, hosted by four former captains who faced and participated in enough political games in their days, focused more on bringing out the humour and light side of the game via stories from their days.Then there were podcasts with reputable sports journalists after every match Pakistan played that dissected the performances in a commendable way. But overall, the negative feedback to these shows only motivated them to go harder on their approach presumably with the hope that any publicity is good publicity. The sport that seemed to bring the nation together left the nation in a much worse and more divided place than ever.

Enforcing stricter regulations might not be the best solution, but our content creators definitely need to come up with some kind of policies and standards while planning and hosting these shows; otherwise, it is not helping anyone.

The writer is a digital communication expert and consultant currently working in the public sector. He is the mastermind behind the digital platforms, Sukhan, Mani’s Cricket Myths and Over The Line