ICC World Cup 2011 Forum Review: Pakpassion

With the 2011 ICC World Cup just around the corner, cricket forums are reverberating across the web. With the subcontinent being home to the game’s most ardent fans, it should come as no surprise to even a casual follower of the game that Pakpassion.net, (PP), a Pakistan-based cricket forum, ranks among the most popular . , attracting members from every other country on the subcontinent, as well as every other cricket-playing nation, including Pakistani expatriates from around the world.

Cricket is similar to a religion in the subcontinent. Everyone has an opinion on the subject and seems to know better than his country’s coaches who should be on their team and who shouldn’t. So a gaming forum resembles a battlefield where insults are hurled at dissenting opinions.

PP deserves praise for the sheer breadth of the platform it has created for cricket fans, but not least for its unifying aspect and its underlying “Hail mate, welcome” spirit of camaraderie.

A large number of Indians are among the members of the PP, and while the locals don’t always share their views on the game, they treat their Indian neighbors with deference, often making them feel comfortable, with reassurances such as, “we want you to feel included.” .

The wide range of forums includes cricket, cricket videos, sports corner, commentary archives, PP (fantasy cricket) leagues, cricket teams and something called cornered tigers, launched in October 2010, offering tour packages to watch the games from Pakistan all over the world.

Others include Time Pass (discussing almost anything like PP’s, politics, learning Chinese etc.), languages ​​including those spoken in Pakistan as well as those spoken in other countries on the subcontinent such as Bengali and Hindi), presentations, PP shop (shirts, tickets, etc.), Suggestions and support (username change, private message to a fellow pp’er, emoticon exchange (including a Sania Mirza emoticon), match referee room , Columns, (Noddys blog), TSN, Woolmer views, etc.).

It all started when PP was launched as a cricket site in the year 2000, by a couple of fans, by the names of Faraz and Ali. A year later, ownership of the site changed hands, and its popularity continued to grow unabated. But the forum really took off in March 2004 when BBC TMS members decided this was the real McCoy and set about adding great color and variety to the site. At this stage, it was clear that the forum was on its way to becoming an independent network and that it did so, in January 2005, assuming the avatar of Pakpassion.net.

Thereafter there were continuous value additions, exemplified by an Urdu forum launched in December 2007, commentary archives in 2008, and live audio commentary later that year. In June 2008, the forum experienced a surge in popularity after being mentioned on Cricinfo, registering a peak of 1,551 users. The next stage in its evolution was the introduction of live text commentary in January 2009, followed by the launch of PakpassionTV; the event was marked by the live broadcast of a test match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. A month later, PP appeared in a one-hour cricket show on a UK-based Asian TV channel, followed in April 2009 by a partnership with Willow TV to offer live webcasting.

Since its inception as a cricket fan site, PP has grown into a true institution, with comprehensive coverage of Pakistan’s Test matches including “exclusive pre-match photos/videos, match action, post-match and press conferences, match venue updates, full audio (and video) of press conferences, etc.” During the recent series in England, in August 2010, BBC Test Match Special invited PP representatives to the studio. PP has also conducted a series of interviews, featuring a list of cricketing luminaries, including the best Pakistani players past and present.

Cricket forums like PP claim that cricket means more than just victories on the pitch; they also help weave the spirit of the game into the fabric of life, off the pitch.