Although the Pakistan cricket team failed to impress with their performance in the ICC World Cup 2023, it is the country’s four former captains – Wasim Akram, Moin Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq and Shoaib Malik – who have drawn applause for their top-quality analysis of all matches throughout the tournament on the ‘The Pavillion’ TV show.
Aired on Pakistani channel A Sports, the show has developed a significant viewership in India through the episodes uploaded daily on the channel’s YouTube account.
The programme has been praised for adopting “no jingoism”, being “neutral” and offering the “best analysis” of the ongoing cricket World Cup.
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Among those who have publicly praised the show is former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. While speaking to A Sports, he said, “I watch all of them…Wasim Akram, Misbah-ul-Haq and Moin Khan. I follow their show regularly,” he said.
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“Pakistan have had a pretty woeful World Cup but arguably the best cricket show on the World Cup has come from Pakistan tv: The Pavilion. No jingoism, no noise, just solid analysis and truth telling by former players . Wish our sports/news channels/experts would take a cue. This is a WORLD Cup, not a domestic tournament for Indian stars only. Sure we love Virat, Rohit and our team but let’s talk about the game and other players too also sometimes! (sic),” Indian journalist Rajdeep Sardesai posted on social media platform X.
“I agree. ‘The Pavilion’ has presented, far and away, the best analysis of this year’s #WorldCup. Wasim Akram, Misbah ul Haq, Moin Khan and Shoaib Malik have excelled as analysts. Their take on India repeatedly shows they have put cricket ahead of jingoism. Their analysis of Rohit, Virat, Rahul and Gill on one hand and Bumrah, Shami, Kuldip and Jadeja on the other has been superb! (sic),” noted columnist Ashutosh Varshney added.
A number of sports journalists have also shown appreciation for the show. Sports news anchor Vikrant Gupta was among the social media users who asked a question during the programme’s ‘#AskThePavillion’ segment.