Pakistan Super League PSL 2017

Pakistan Super League PSL 2017

Pakistan Super League PSL 2017 The PSL Pakistan Super League 2017 is scheduled to begin on Feb 9th 2017 in UAE. The opening ceremon... 13:08:00

Pakistan Super League PSL 2017

The PSL Pakistan Super League 2017 is scheduled to begin on Feb 9th 2017 in UAE. The opening ceremony and the first match will be played on Feb 9th with the final taking place in Lahore on March 7. Just like last season, a total of 24 matches will be played this year too. 

Shaggy, Ali Zafar and Shehzad Roy are slated to perform at the opening ceremony hosted by Fahad Mustafa. The organizers are planning to make this a grand opening that will be remembered for a long time.

The PSL Draft for the second edition of the tournament was held on October 19 and all five teams announced their squads with most teams consisting of around 20 players from Pakistan and overseas.

A few of the players were retained from the previous season by teams while the others were picked a fresh from the PSL Draft. There was also a transfer window in which teams like Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars exchanged players.

New Players like Eoin Morgan, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine and Brendon McCullum had also agreed to getting themselves placed in the Draft and were picked up by respective teams during the Draft, while Chris Gayle was let go of by Lahore and selected by Karachi.

The following players namely Tilakaratne Dilshan, Thisara Perera, Rilee Rossouw, Marlon Samuels, Andre Fletcher, Mahmudullah Riyad, James Franklin, Chris Green, Jason Roy and Nathan McCullum got a nod as replacement players instead of injured of partly unavailable players.

Misbah-ul-Haq will lead the defending champions Islamabad United yet again while Shahid Afridi handed over the captaincy of Peshawar Zalmi to Darren Sammy. Sarfaraz Ahmed will look to guide the Quetta Gladiators, while Sangakkara leads the Karachi Kings. Lahore Qalandars will be captained by Brendon McCullum.

Even bigger news is coming from the PSL stable is that the final of the next edition of the Pakistan Super League will be played in Lahore, Pakistan. The Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore will host the final according to PCB chief Najam Sethi.

Given the success of the Pakistan Super League in the first season, the PCB has offered an increase in prize money for the second PSL season. The title winners take home $700,000, as opposed to $500,000 that they had won last season while the runner-up will gather $350,000. Last season the runner-up had won $200,000.

There are also three different prizes that there will be on offer this season during the PSL. namely the Imtiaz Ahmed Trophy, Hanif Mohammad Trophy and Fazal Mahmood Trophy for the best wicket-keeper, batsman and the bowler in the tournament respectively.

The first ever edition of the Pakistan Super League T20 ended on February 23 with Islamabad United winning the title after defeating Quetta Gladiators in the final of the tournament.

The foundation for Islamabad’s victory in the final was laid by Andre Russell’s three-wicket haul before Dwayne Smith and Brad Haddin smashed fifties to guide the side towards their chase of 175 against Quetta Gladiators.

Ahmed Shehzad and Kumar Sangakkara had hit fifties of their own in the final for the Gladiators, and at one stage would have harboured thoughts for a win after piling up 174 in a pressure final.

Earlier, the Quetta Gladiators made the final by winning their only playoff match against Peshawar Zalmi, edging Peshawar out by a run. This was followed by Islamabad overcoming the Karachi Kings by nine wickets, a chase of 115 that lasted just 14.2 overs for them.

Islambad were then slotted to take on the Zalmis in which they crushed their opponents yet again. Sharjeel Khan became the first centurion in the PSL T20 to steer his side to 176 for three in the 20 overs before the United saw Russell and Imran Khalid share seven wickets to bowl Peshawar out for 126.
Among the five sides, Lahore Qalandars faced the bitter end of the disappointment as they failed to qualify for the final four. Despite having a strong squad with names like Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo, they could win just two matches out of the possible eight.

The HBL PSL cricket league has put the cricket action from the country back on the map. Boasting of international players and a league like format, the tournament took place in three stages, which was played in Dubai and Sharjah. The teams representing five major cities – Peshawar, Quetta, Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore took part in the competition.

The good news for Pakistan fans is that PSL final will be played in Lahore this season and that is a step forward into bringing international cricket back to Pakistan as well.