The fifth edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) has begun. The final is to be played in Lahore on March 22. The tournament will be held entirely in Pakistan and it is the biggest cricket tournament to take place in the country since the Asia Cup in 2008.

Six teams are competing in the tournament: defending champions Quetta Gladiators, Islamabad United, Peshawar Zalmi, Lahore Qalandars, Karachi Kings and Multan Sultans. A total of 34 matches will be played in four cities: Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan.

This year’s winner of Pakistan Super League will take home $500,000, while the runners up will get $200,000.

Besides the attraction of financial rewards, it is the manner in which foreign players are treated here which makes them prefer PSL over other leagues taking place in the same months.

All five franchises for the first season of the league were sold for a total price of $93 million on December 3, 2015.

In April 2017, PCB invited bids for the sixth team and in June short-listed Multan for a price of $5.2 million per year, the most expensive team of the PSL.

The first edition comprised five teams and all matches were played in the UAE. It was won by Islamabad United who beat Quetta Gladiators by six wickets.

The second edition was again played in the UAE, but the PCB efforts made it possible that elimination matches and the final were played in Lahore and Karachi. The final was won by Peshawar Zalmi. Quetta Gladiators remain unfortunate again in the final.

The third edition was won by Islamabad United who beat Peshawar by three wickets in Karachi.

In the third year, the total number of matches increased from 18 to 34.

The last edition of PSL started in the UAE and then moved to Pakistan for the last eight matches of the tournament, all of which were played at the National Stadium, Karachi. The final was played between Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi. This time Quetta didn’t miss the opportunity and beat Peshawar by eight wickets to win their first title.

The fifth edition of the tournament is being played completely in Pakistan. Cricket fans must be excited to watch leading international players, including Colin Munro, Jason Roy, Shane Watson, Alex Hales, Ravi Bopara, Daly Steyn, Chris Jordon, Carlos Brathwaite and Daren Sammy in action on their soil.

West Indian player and Peshawar Zalmi captain Darren Sammy is very popular in Pakistan. Sammy received a warm welcome everywhere every time when he visited Pakistan. He has been vocal about his support for the country as it bids to revive international cricket at home.

Tournament’s top-scorer Kamran Akmal and superstars such as Keiron Pollard make Peshawar Zalmi the country’s most popular side. Peshawar have ample support in the stadiums across the country.

Defending champions Quetta Gladiators consist of mostly Karachi players which makes them almost as popular in the city as the Karachi Kings. Quetta have been the most consistent performers in the PSL.

They won 27 matches out of 47 in the first four editions (win percentage 61.90). Sarfraz Ahmed has been leading Quetta since the first tournament and has taken his team thrice in the final.

The presence of Umar Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad, Naseem Shah and Muhammad Hasnain may help Quetta repeat last year’s performance in the 2020 edition.

Karachi Kings’ performance in the past four seasons hasn’t been great. They have qualified for the play-offs every time, but never made it to the final.

But with Babar Azam, who is the number one batsman in the T20 format, Imad Wasim, Colin Ingram, Alex Hales, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Amir, Liam Plunkett and Chris Jordan, this time they look a balanced side.

Dean Jones has joined Karachi Kings as head coach. He had been associated with Islamabad United that won two titles in four appearances: in 2016 and 2018.

Sharjeel and Hales can provide the side with the kind of explosive starts that they have been unable to get in previous editions. In the middle order, skipper Imad Wasim and Aamer Yamin have the ability to score freely.

Lahore Qalandars have been the most unfortunate ones as they have failed to qualify for the playoffs. In all four PSL editions they finished last. Out of 36 matches of the four editions, Lahore Qalandars won only 10.

After Indian Premier League, PSL is the most competitive and well-organised league in the world. It is better than Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

One of the positive aspects of PSL is that it gives the Pakistani players the chance to share dressing rooms with renowned international players and gain valuable experience.

Local boys have also got financial incentives that they could never have achieved from domestic cricket.

The league has given us players like Hassan Ali, Imad, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz and Fakhar Zaman.

Pakistani domestic cricketers are some of the lowest paid professional cricketers in the world. The money offered in PSL motivates the youngsters to work harder as they hope to get signed by PSL franchises.

In the past the only way for local cricketers to be financially secure was to get a place in the international team, which of course only a few can manage.

Young cricketers go into the international cricket sphere having played under pressure, and thus they are familiar with strong opponents.

As the league is expanding, it will give more emerging players an opportunity to play with senior players.

Kamran Akmal of Peshawar Zalmi is the most successful batsman of PSL. He is the highest run-getter with 1286 runs in 47 matches, including two hundreds and nine fifties, with an average of 29.22 and strike rate of 134.51. He is the only batsman to have scored two centuries in PSL.

Shane Watson (1114), Babar (1043) and Ahmed Shehzad (1016) are the other batsmen who have scored over 1000 runs in PSL.

South Africa’s Colin Ingram scored 127 not out for Karachi Kings against Quetta Gladiator in Sharjah in 2019.

Cameron Delport, Sharjeel Khan and Kamran are the other batsmen who scored centuries in the tournament before the fifth season.

Kamran has the PSL record of fastest fifty (17 balls) with Islamabad United’s Asif Ali. He has also hit most sixes (67). Kamran has received six Man-of-the-Match awards — the highest.

Kamran is also the most capped player of PSL with 47 appearances. Daren Sammy and Wahab Riaz are behind him with 45 matches each.

Kamran is also the most successful wicket-keeper in PSL with 39 dismissals. Mohammad Rizwan and Sarfraz Ahmed are behind him with 28 dismissals each.

Wahab has been the most successful bowler with 65 wickets in 45 appearances at an average of 17.38. Hassan Ali is the only other bowler with over 50 wickets in the tournament.

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