PSL season

The first leg of the Pakistan Super League's (PSL) season 7 in Karachi concluded Monday night. The current season began under a cloud due to widespread cases of Covid's Omicron variant. But despite rising Covid cases, including in the PSL bubble itself, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) decided to go ahead with the league. In view of NCOC restrictions, only 25 percent crowd attendance was allowed for PSL matches at the iconic National Stadium in Karachi; this has now been changed to allow 100 percent crowd occupancy starting February 16. However, nothing dampened the mood of the players or the millions of PSL fans. Since its start, the PSL has been the talk of the town with fans all over the country and abroad passionately following their favourite teams.

So far, Multan Sultans who won their first ever PSL crown last summer have emerged as the best performing outfit, having won all five of their matches in the tournament so far. Multan's ascent to the top of the points table is hardly surprising, considering that the team is captained by the in-form Mohammad Rizwan, who was recently named ICC Twenty20 International Cricketer of the Year. Rizwan is continuing his purple patch with the bat in the PSL and has been ably supported by the likes of left-handed opener Shan Masood and other team-mates. Multan has already provided some of the PSL highlights so far including a match-winning effort by their Singaporean player Tim David, who took a stunning catch at the square leg boundary to help the Sultans seal a thrilling win against Quetta Gladiators. Trailing Multan are the trio of Islamabad United and Lahore Qalandars followed by Peshawar Zalmi. Surprisingly, Quetta who have been one of the most consistent teams in PSL history, have had a subdued start having won just one of their four games. Quetta has suffered a setback after their star pacer Mohammad Hasnain was suspended after failing a bowling action test. Below-par showings from aging stars like skipper Sarfraz Ahmed and Shahid Afridi haven't helped Quetta's cause either.

But if Quetta are bad, then Karachi Kings are worse. Unable to exploit the home advantage, Karachi have lost five matches on the trot. Even their captain Babar Azam, Pakistan cricket's biggest star, has failed to inspire Karachi who are now on the brink of elimination. The competing teams have now moved to Lahore for the final PSL leg. Multan will be looking to preserve their lead while Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar will hope to catch up. For Quetta and Karachi it will be a question of surviving the initial stage and qualifying for the playoffs. The stage is set for some exciting games towards the business end of the tournament, which is seen as one of the highlights of Pakistan's cricket calendar.