DUBAI - Quetta Gladiators owner Nadeem Omar has said that his team will produce wonders in Pakistan Super League (PSL) and try their best to win the coveted trophy.
Talking to The Nation, Nadeem said: “Unfortunately, despite scoring hefty runs in the first edition, we failed to defend, while in the second edition, our top foreign players could not come to play in Lahore, which was main reason behind our loss.”
When Nadeem, who belongs to Karachi, was asked about the reason of opting Gladiators than Karachi Kings, he said: “My first choice was Karachi and I also did a bid for it, but after that, my second priority was Gladiators, as I feel Quetta deserves more attention and I am thankful to Almighty, I got Gladiators and now I serving Quetta team, just like I did for rest of the country especially for Karachi. Ever since, I have bought Gladiators, the response is amazing and I feel, I did the right thing. The way the people of Balochistan have responded, they deserve to be acknowledged and I feel soon cricket will spread to all corners of that deprived province.”
Nadeem has long experience of running Omar Associates cricket team, which played Ramzan Cups, Grade-II and other tournaments, but purchasing a franchise is something different. On this, Nadeem said: “Although my family was objecting to buy a franchise, yet my 35-yar passion for cricket was there. Yes, financially it was a huge risk, but my passion led me to take this bold decision, thanks to Almighty, I feel I had made right choice, with passage of time, financial aspect will also improve.”
He said he couldn’t play his favorite games because he was busy in business. “I have played hockey and I have a great passion for cricket. My club Pakistan Cricket Club has been prevailing, as it has huge talent while I and Azam Khan know each other for last 25 years. our club players are playing at all levels and representing all the franchises, which is a great honour. It is not a big deal that I played or not, but the thing is I have been serving Pakistan cricket and I will continue to do so.”
About his plans for development of cricket in Quetta after PSL-3, Nadeem said: “Other teams have good media partners and they get huge promotions, but we are weak in this area, otherwise, we are working on such plans and have been unearthing fresh talent for last three years in Quetta. We conducted three inter-school tournaments in which 32 schools took part. We need to build academies and infrastructure. The PCB couldn’t dig talent for last 70 years, so people are expecting from us to find fresh talent in only two years, which is not fair, but let me assure all that one day, we will surely achieve this task too.”
It is worth mentioning here that his club gave the national team Sarfraz Ahmad, who is captaining the national team in all the formats. “Sarfraz is with me for last 15 years and it gave us lot of help. He is good captain and champion skipper, who helped Pakistan win Champions Trophy. Moin is also a great coach and superb mentor while Sir Viv is the greatest batsmen of all time, who himself is a great mentor and action, so therefore, I don’t need any showbiz celebrity with the team. Let me tell all that the way Sir Viv is emotionally attached with Quetta Gladiators, he is not even attached with the West Indian team.
“All the players are like family and playing like a unit. Winning or losing doesn’t matter, the thing that matters for me is positive cricket and excellent sportsmanship. We are ambassadors of Pakistan, so we all must put Pakistan way ahead over our personal ambitions,” Nadeem concluded.
