Cricket is not mere a game now. People worship it! You might have seen the passionate players playing cricket on the roads, in the grounds or outside the stadiums, in college and schools or in houses playing in the heat-releasing sun or the darkness of the night with street lights on.
Aggression at its peak, aiming at overthrowing their opponents competing hardly, with the desire like Afridi’s to hit the ball up in the sky till it vanishes or throwing the ball like Waseem Akram to bold the player directly in the stumps. And then you would hear the voice echoing for eternity in the entire area that: “you’re gone, you’re gone”. And somewhere sounds the agony of defeat and on the other far end the interjection of “hurray”.
There you find the young talent being wasted, playing in the confinements of the secrecy with no opportunity to take them where their dreams lie, in the forefront at the Cricket Stadium, on the pitch and neither to tell anybody how perfectly and aptly they can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. But if the opportunity is given, nonetheless, it turns out to be worthless with inappropriate dvantage. For they only have some spectators, coaches, team leads or maybe non to appreciate them and support them because then they think it’s just a game played in their past-time. Even no platform provided to recognize them, utilize the budding talent and the ability within those individuals and ripen it.
Consequently, leading towards the banishment of the meaning of the terrific game which is destined to ultimately lie there in the muddy ditch, unseen, unvalued and unnoticed.For that Pepsi’s role and association with the cricket team is unbelievable. Pepsi is not only limited to sponsoring the national team, purely, but it has done a remarkable job by becoming the backbone of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Pepsi has also been working for the extraction of the cream within the energy charged youth of Pakistan hunting them and polishing them into stars and legends with the support of the hardworking team. Of which one example is the Pepsi PCB Cricket Star campaign 2010, a model for Pepsi’s assistance for holding such a project with the Cricket Board and moment of opportunity for the country itself. The event held last year was an ultimate success with youth deeply passionate for the cricket contest and a light to achieve the dream which seemed far-sighted and unattainable. The campaign nominated 20 young aspirants, all over the country, who were lucky to be later lead through the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for training under supervision of PCB.
In the recent years, the Pakistani cricket has been handicapped by enduring the accuse-pointing-fingers negatively affecting it, altering publics’ mentality against it. The stature of the cricket has been damaged, with the great disappointment and the missing chance of hosting the world cup in the past years and disappointment of the teens and adults towards the cricket team. Moreover lack of resources and platforms to perform their level’s best internationally and to gain a position at the professional team are not existent. The stature of cricket in Pakistan has to be taken at a higher pedestal, with an objective to clear out all the stains on the Pakistan Cricket as a whole.
To remove all that, Pepsi in consort with the cricket board itself is giving platforms for the young aspiring people to get out from the nut shell and prove themselves, this year again. The success of the last year’s campaign brought forward a new step for the cricketers to get themselves registered for the Pepsi PCB Cricket Stars. This again aims at an enterprise to help foster the game of cricket and to find the fresh crisp talent around the country. The team has launched a strong communication campaign for spreading the words about the program to invite more and more abled yet striving players to join hands. The campaign is being supported by one of the greatest, beloved, and audacious youth icon of the Pakistani cricket, Shahid Afridi. Not only this, the campaign is also transpired through radio, press and TV ads.
This upcoming platform is totally based on a genuine merit base selection of the team, on the basis of equality, with the target to ventilate and get the new passionate cricketers’ best. 50 cities and 100 towns await the flipping coin to let the luck be on their side.Pepsi PCB Cricket Star is more like a revolutionary thing, with a vision and a golden chance for the youth. A goal, for achieving the dreams and transforming the passionate illusion into an existing reality. Thanks Pepsi and PCB hope that the youth now stands a chance to become a legendary cricketer in the team.
