Nation-building & sport promotion: Is Pakistan cricket failing?

Analysts have tried to explain Pakistan’s cricketing success – and failure – as an overarching metaphor for the country’s weaknesses and strengths in the social, cultural and political arenas. The state has also, many a times, tried to use this much-loved sport as a tool for diplomacy and nation-building. Young men, meanwhile, aspire to play for the greenshirts as a lucrative means for upward social and economic mobility. The managers of the game also sensed a great deal of commercial potential in cricket, accrued through international games and broadcasting and advertising opportunities — until recently, that is. On the other hand, there have been question marks over Pakistan cricket’s ability to expand beyond the main urban centres, particularly in Punjab and Karachi. Avenues for moneymaking through cricket have also shrunk after a visiting Sri Lankan team came under attack in Lahore in 2009.