PSL season

The Multan Cricket Stadium will be at the centre of the world of Pakistan sports tomorrow (Monday) when it will host the opening game of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) Season 8. The highly popular Twenty20 league will explode into action with a high-voltage opening match featuring defending champions Lahore Qalandars and former title-holders Multan Sultans. Multan’s addition on the venue list of the league which includes Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi is a welcome sign as it underlines the fact that the PSL has grown since its inception eight years ago. Foreign stars are currently joining local cricket heroes as the six participating teams are flexing their muscles ahead of the first leg of PSL-8 which will simultaneously take place in Multan and Karachi.

This year, the man who helped launch the PSL is back in the saddle. Najam Sethi, who returned as the man at the helm of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), was chairman of the PCB when the PSL was launched successfully. A lot has changed in the last eight years. Initially starting as an off-shore event, the PSL now takes place on home soil. It is regarded by many as one of the best T20 leagues in the world featuring several leading international stars. This year, too, PSL will see in action quite a large number of foreign stars including David Miller, Rilee Rossouw, Jason Roy, Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Paul Stirling, Moeen Ali, Matthew Wade, James Fuller, James Vince, David Wiese, Liam Dawson, Sikandar Raza and Rashid Khan. The Pakistani big guns include Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Shoaib Malik and Naseem Shah. On the field, the PSL is expected to produce a lot of fireworks and the fans should expect a month-long cricketing feast. But off the field, it is feared that the league could face a lot of challenges -- as the current edition of the PSL gets underway at a time when the country is grappling with several crises that include a faltering economy and increasing terror threats. The PSL team will need to go the extra mile to ensure yet another successful edition of the PSL both in terms of the quality of cricket and the league’s profitability.

Meanwhile, on the cricket field all the six participating teams must be fancying their chances of winning the newly-unveiled 24-karat trophy, aptly named the Supernova Trophy. Lahore Qalandars made six unsuccessful attempts before finally winning the coveted title last year. Under the leadership of the fit-again Shaheen Afridi, Lahore will be hoping to defend the title. Babar who has taken over as captain of Peshawar Zalmi will be hoping to regain the crown for what is one of the most successful franchises in PSL history. Two-time champions Islamabad United will be looking to become the first team with three titles under the captaincy of Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan will be hoping to inspire Multan Sultans while Imad Wasim will be captaining Karachi Kings. Sarfaraz Ahmed will once again be at the helm for Quetta Gladiators who sent an early warning to other contenders by beating Zalmi in an exhibition game at Quetta’s Buti Stadium last week. In that game Quetta’s Iftikhar Ahmed clobbered seasoned pacer Wahab Riaz for six sixes in an over. One can expect similar fireworks at the four PSL venues in the coming weeks.