The captains’ press conference, which was held ahead of the PSL 2026 opener, has turned into an embarrassing event for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Captains of all eight franchises had gathered to answer questions from the press. Still, the focus turned to poor production quality and the disinterest shown by foreign captains, mainly David Warner, who was mostly on his phone.
This was mainly due to the questions being asked in Urdu instead of English, leaving the three Australian captains—Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, and Ashton Turner—passing their time talking to one another or on their phones.
While answering a question, Warner was also irritated when Labuschagne, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, and Saud Shakeel were discussing something of their own, disturbing the ex-Australia opener.
Warner paused and said, "What's wrong? Sorry, gentlemen, we have got school kids here."
This has led to former Pakistani players and media persons slamming the way the captains’ press conference was organized by the PCB. Even former Pakistan player Kamran Akmal was unhappy with the press conference.
"PSL is your brand. The organization of the PSL captains' meet was done poorly. You should have brought two players each. It seemed like a khichdi. The overseas players could not understand the questions. Shaheen Afridi had to act as the translator. This is not a club tournament; this is the PSL. What they can manage, they should. The captains are looking at their phones in the pre-tournament press conference," Kamran Akmal said on The Gameplan.
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The PSL 2026 is being held behind closed doors and at only two venues as Pakistan is fighting an issue with fuel shortage due to the ongoing West Asia conflict between the USA & Israel and Iran. Lahore and Karachi will host all the IPL matches, and even the opening ceremony was called off.
Meanwhile, apart from ex-Pakistani players, the fans also trolled the PCB for the poor video quality of the live stream of the press conference. Fans said the video looked like it was shot on a phone, and the overall quality did not match the standards expected from a big T20 league like the PSL.
Social media users began posting videos of the conversation. While some people found it amusing, others used it to criticize the press conference's overall planning.
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