 "The opening game of the 2026 Pakistan Super League in Lahore witnessed the ball turn pink midway during the game. Image credit: X")
The 11th season of the Pakistan Super League got underway on Thursday with defending champions Lahore Qalandars trouncing Hyderabad Kingsmen by 69 runs in the season opener at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium. Three-time champions Qalandars posted 199/6 on the board, powered by opener Fakhar Zaman’s 39-ball 53 as well as handy knocks from the trio of Hasebullah Khan (40 not out off 28), Mohammad Naeem (30 not out off 19) and Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza (24 off 10).
Raza as well as seamers Haris Rauf and Ubaid Shah collected a couple of wickets each as the Kingsmen were bowled out for just 130 in reply, with the Marnus Labuschagne-led side barely offering any resistance in reply.
The opening game of the 11th PSL season, however, also made headlines for the wrong reasons on Thursday. The match, after all, witnessed the white ball that was being used for the match turn pink at one stage, leading to complaints from batters as well as criticism from cricket fans on social media.
Hyderabad Kingsmen’s poor-quality kits to blame for ‘pink-ball’ fiasco?
The change in the ball’s colour was the result of Hyderabad Kingsmen players rubbing the ball on their trousers before throwing it towards the bowler. Hyderabad’s kits are maroon in colour, nearly the same shade as the West Indies cricket team, and the dye used in their jerseys and trousers appeared to have transferred on to the white ball, turning it pink.
Former Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal was among those slamming the quality of apparel procured by the Kingsmen, who are making their debut alongside the Rawalpindiz, questioning whether they had got their kits from a ‘dupatta gali’.
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View All“Every city has a dupatta gali where you can colour your dupatta. It looks like the kits have come fresh from that place. At first, I thought that the ball is appearing pink because of the camera. But it could also be from the sponsorship boards,” Akmal said on The Game Plan show on YouTube.
Here are reactions from other cricket experts and fans on social media:
Hyderabad captain Labuschagne, meanwhile, admitted he had never seen anything like this in his life.
“I did say to the umpires after the second over, ‘What’s going on? The ball is red.’ It must be from the clothes or something like that. I haven’t seen anything like this before,” the Australian batter said during the post-match presentation ceremony.
“I’ve seen occasions where something on a bat comes onto the ball, or when it hits the pad and takes a bit of paint off. But I’ve never seen this happen with clothing. I’m sure they’ll sort it out in the next few games,” he added.
The ongoing PSL season is behind held behind closed doors in just two cities – Lahore and Karachi – due to a nationwide fuel crisis resulting from USA and Israel’s ongoing conflict with Iran.