Pakistan Super League umpire inspects the ‘pink’ ball© X (Twitter)
The first match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2026 between Lahore Qalandars and Hyderabad Kingsmen saw a major controversy as the contest suddenly turned into a ‘pink-ball’ encounter. The fans were left stunned after Australia all-rounder Marnus Labuschagne, representing Hyderabad Kingsmen, lodged a complaint with the umpires after noticing that the colour from his team’s jersey was bleeding on the white ball. As a result, the ball turned pink and that led to a lot of criticism from both fans as well as experts. During his analysis on YouTube, former Pakistan cricketer Kamran Akmal took a hilarious dig at the entire situation and even suggested that the jerseys’ colours came from the traditional ways of dyeing.
“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.
Meanwhile, Labuschagne admitted he had never experienced colour transfer from clothing onto the ball in his professional career.
“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,” Labuschagne told reporters at the post-match press conference.
The Australian star expressed hope that the franchise owners would resolve the issue quickly.
“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.
As Lahore Qalandars sealed victory, the Hyderabad Kingsmen shared a cheeky post on X (formerly Twitter), congratulating their opponents for winning the first “pink-ball game” of the PSL.
“Congratulations to the opposition on winning their first pink-ball game,” the franchise’s official account posted.