Finally, Lahore Qalandars' dream came true in the seventh attempt as the Shaheen Shah Afridi-led home side lifted the PSL-7 trophy in front of a full house at the Gaddafi Stadium last week.

Multan Sultans' dream of becoming the first team to successfully defend a PSL title was shattered with a 42-run defeat.

Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi were the two other teams to qualify for the play-offs but lost their matches in the eliminator round. Kings and Gladiators had bowed out in the first round.

After Lahore's win now all six teams have won the league at least once. Only Islamabad United have won the title twice.

Islamabad United won in 2016 and 2018, Peshawar Zalmi in 2017, Quetta Gladiators in 2019, Karachi Kings in 2020 and Sultans (2021) last year.

When the management of Lahore Qalandars appointed Shaheen Shah Afridi as the skipper for PSL seventh edition, veteran all-rounder Shahid Afridi advised Shaheen to wait for a year or two before accepting captaincy so that he could focus on his bowling.

But Shaheen not only accepted the challenge but proved Shahid Afridi wrong by lifting maiden Pakistan Super League (PSL) title.

Before Shaheen seven players had led Lahore Qalandars - Azhar Ali and DJ Bravo in 2016, Brendon McCullum in 2017, Sohail Akhtar (2018), Mohammad Hafeez, AB de Villiers and Fakhar Zaman in 2019 and Sohail Akhtar in 2021, but it was Shaheen Afridi who gave the first PSL title to Lahore.

Shaheen became the youngest captain - at the age of 21 - to win a T20 league title. Shaheen broke the record of Indian star batsman Rohit Sharma, who led Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians to the title, aged 26, in 2013.

Before the seventh season began, Shaheen met Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was delighted to see another fast bowling captain on the cricket circuit and encouraged the youngster to make the most of the opportunity.

Qalandars lost the final of PSL fifth season. They finished last in the first four seasons and fifth in the sixth edition.

Despite the loss in the final, Multan Sultan received the "Spirit of Cricket Award" with a cash prize of Rs3.5 million.

Lahore Qalandars' opener and "Batsman of the Tournament" Fakhar Zaman remained the most successful batsman of the PSL-7 with 588 runs in 13 matches, averaging 45.23 and a strike rate of 152.72 with the help of one hundred and seven fifties.

Shan Masood (478) from Multan and Shoaib Malik (401) of Peshawar were the other two batters who crossed 400-run mark.

It was the best tournament for Mohammad Rizwan. He not only remained the second most successful batsman of the tournament with 546 runs - the only batsman after Fakhar who scored over 500 runs in the league - but also received "Player of the PSL 2022 and Best Wicketkeeper" awards with a cash prize of Rs3.5 million each. In 12 matches, he accounted for nine batsmen behind the stumps.

Rizwan is a busy player. He won 10 out of 12 matches for Multan Sultans this season. His team played two successive finals. It was the second consecutive season when he scored over 500 runs.

Earlier in the year, Rizwan was declared the "Most Valuable Cricketer" as well as T20I Cricketer as part of the PCB Awards 2021.

Mohammad Rizwan was also named the captain of the Team of HBL Pakistan Super League season seven which was selected by the distinguished members of the commentary team.

On the bowling side, Lahore skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi took 20 wickets in 13 games, while Shadab Khan (Islamabad) was behind him with 19 wickets.

Islamabad skipper Shadab Khan was declared the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of PSL 2022 - he took 19 wickets and scored 268 runs with a high strike rate of 162.42. No one in the PSL history has scored 250 runs and taken more than 15 wickets in a season.

Shadab took his 19 wickets in just 9 matches with an excellent average of just 10.89 and an economy rate of 6.46. For his outstanding performance Shadab received the "Bowler of the Tournament" award. The wrist-spinner had two four-fers and a five-fer in the season.

Multan's all-rounder Khushdil Shah scored 153 runs at an average of 25.50 and took 16 wickets, averaging 13.93. Khushdil also received the awards of "Best All-rounder and Best Fielder" of PSL 2022 and also got Rs3.5 million for each award.

The 41-year-old Muhammad Hafeez proved that he is still a match winner in the shortest format of the game. In the final, first he scored a 69 off 46 balls and then took the important wickets of in-form opener Mohamed Rizwan (14) and Aamer Azmat (6) to bowl the defending champions for 138 in 19.3 overs.

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