A rare sight, #IqraUniversity (IU) appeared as a top hashtag on Twitter on Wednesday after the varsity signed a partnership agreement with Islamabad United (ISLU) for the sixth series of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
The Red Hot Squad’s skipper Shadab Khan along with his teammates Muhammad Musa and Rumaan Raees visited IU, which takes the toll for being the ‘Lumber 1’ university, and held a press conference there.
According to the agreement, IU is the official Youth Sports Sponsor of ISLU for PSL 6. This is the first time that an educational institution has partnered with a franchise in the T20 cricket tournament.
IU said, “The objective of this partnership is to assist in the development of sports for our youth who is passionate and has a great potential to succeed in life. Iqra University believes that this initiative will offer a platform to boost youth sports in the country.”
However, the trolls saw this as an opportunity to bring out their cold rivalries in public, nevertheless, to entertain us.
Abeer, who goes by the username of @DMisHaram, shared a meme from her account which poked fun at “other universities” for not having a PSL partner
Who did this #IqraUniversity pic.twitter.com/JqR9WYesiR
— Abeer (@DMisHaram) February 10, 2021
Zunair Khan, @zunairkh, tweeted:
https://twitter.com/zunairkh/status/1359437304926986240
And Nouman Younas, @Noumaan22, took it another level:
https://twitter.com/Noumaan22/status/1359444691490643968
Then came Anam⭐, @LeAnam__:
Students of @Iqra_University right now:#IqraUniversity pic.twitter.com/JVcfvk1hhw
— Anam⭐ (@LeAnam__) February 10, 2021
Jokes apart, the partnership will help the sport as well as its millions of fans in the country and
abroad, of course including us.
According to Erum Lakhani, IU’s co-founder: “It is unconventional for a university to partner up
with a sports team but I didn’t see a reason as to why it could not be done. We have a pool of talent, most importantly a pool of youth in Pakistan that needs avenues to draw out their inner
potential. We are a proud nation to have produced unbeatable players like Jahangir Khan,
Jahansher Khan; we were once hockey champions and squash champions sadly they have
diminished from our map. Why? Revive other sports and IU will go hand in hand in other youth
sports promotions as well”.
Ali Naqvi, ISLU’s owner, also felt thrilled about this partnership. He believes this partnership
makes sense considering both the brands are focused on providing better opportunities to the
youth of Pakistan. He said: “It is our pleasure to partner with Iqra University for this year's PSL.
Islamabad United focuses on our mission statement by implementing a strategy built around the
principle of 4 Es – Excellence, Empowerment, Education, and Environment. It is within this
framework that our partnership with Iqra makes complete sense for us. We're also a franchise
that has always focused on the youth of Pakistan and trying to create a better country through
whatever avenues are available to us”.