Shahid Afridi | @Twitter
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New Delhi: The inaugural edition of the Kashmir Premier League concluded Tuesday with Rawalakot Tigers, led by Shahid Afridi, defeating Muzaffarabad Tigers in the final played at the Muzaffarabad Cricket Stadium. But what gathered more ‘eyeballs’ on social media was the popularity of the tournament despite opposition from the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The Indian cricket governing body’s opposition seems to have fuelled fans across the border to make KPL a must watch—probably the last thing the BCCI wanted.

The talk among cricket fans online was less about the on-field play or supporting either of the teams, and more about the success of the tournament as a whole.

Several fans of the 20-20 league, such as Farooq Siddiqui and Shaziyaa Mahmood took to Twitter and posted screenshots of the online live stream numbers for the match. They were showcasing high viewership figures to establish the tournament’s popularity. While Siddiqui’s post displayed nearly 316,000 live streams, Mahmood showed a number of 242,000.

 

There were also those who chose the final’s viewership numbers as a moment to stick it to India, due to the BCCI’s opposing views on KPL and its request to the International Cricket Council (ICC) to not recognise it.

“Thanks India for promoting #KPL2021, #KPLfinal Congratulations India on your successful campaign for #KPL21,” tweeted Hammad.

Pakistan-occupied Kashmir prime minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan Niazi and chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir, Shehryar Afridi, were also in attendance for the final.

“KPL was a dream. Alhamdulillah enjoying its final along PM AJK. Loving every moment,” Afridi tweeted, using the hashtag #KheloAazadiSe, the official social media tagline of the tournament.

Niazi and Afridi also spoke during the post-match presentation, The News reported. While Niazi “declared Kashmir the land of peace and prosperity”, Afridi “dedicated the success of the KPL to all Kashmiris”.

The little cricket chat that did take place about the final mostly revolved around congratulatory messages to Pakistani cricketing veteran Shahid Afridi for leading his team to victory.

Writer Saj Sadiq credited Afridi for his “brilliant captaincy” and bowling figures of 2-32 from 4 overs, whilst the Pakistani veteran was “struggling to walk”. Sadiq later posted a picture of Afridi’s celebration and said the 42-year-old was “flying high”.

Foreign cricket bloggers Dennis Freedman and Daniel Alexander also weighed in, celebrating Afridi’s win for Rawalakot, with Alexander also commenting on the “picturesque stadium”.

Shahid Afridi dedicated the trophy to the people of Kashmir during post-match presentation, and later thanked the Pakistan Army on Twitter.

 

Unlike the events of two weeks ago, the BCCI has not issued an official statement on the conclusion of KPL. However, former South Africa batsman and current coach Herschelle Gibbs, who had previously hit out at the BCCI for attempting to “threaten” him over his participation in the league, ended up travelling to Muzaffarabad as a member of the Overseas Warriors.

While he didn’t play a game as the Warriors finished fourth and lost to Mirpur Royals in the playoffs, Gibbs posted in praise of his experience in PoK on Twitter and Instagram.

 

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