PSL 11 starts on March 26 sans fanfare

LAHORE, Mar 25 (APP): The 11th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is all set to start without any fireworks and fanfare on March 26 (Thursday) in line with Pakistan government’s decision to adopt austerity measures owing to the impending energy crisis due to geopolitical situation in the region.

Shaheen Shah Afridi will lead Lahore Qalandars in pursuit of title defence in the opening match against the new comers Hyderabad Kingsmen at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.

Qalandars, who have played in the final of four of the last six HBL PSL editions, are paired with arch rivals Karachi Kings, Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi. Each team in their set will play the other twice and face teams out of this set once.

The other set of four teams is Hyderabad Kingsmen, Multan Sultans, Islamabad United and Rawalpindiz. In this format each team will play 10 matches after which a Qualifier followed by two eliminators will decide the finalists for the HBL PSL 11.

Of the 44 matches, 22 fixtures each are split between Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore and National Bank Stadium, Karachi.  The night matches will begin at 7pm PKT, while the first match in 12 double headers will start at 2.30pm PKT.

For the first time in the history of the HBL PSL, a separate reward has been set for the franchises with the winning franchise getting USD 500,000, runners up will get USD 300,000, while the franchise with the best player development efforts will bag USD 200,000. The tournament winning prize for players will comprise USD 500,000.

Rawalpindiz and Hyderabad Kingsmen are set to make their debut in the HBL PSL as the league enters new era after historic team auctions in January and February earlier this year.

Babar Azam, the only player so far to feature in 100 matches in the league, leads the run-scoring charts with 3,792 runs, followed by Fakhar Zaman (2,964), Mohammad Rizwan (2,770), Shoaib Malik (2,350) and Rilee Rossouw (2,287).

On the bowling front, Hasan Ali (125), Shaheen Shah Afridi (122), Wahab Riaz (113) and Shadab Khan (105) are the only four bowlers with the 100 or more wickets in the history of the tournament.

Among the teams, Islamabad United and Lahore Qalandars have won the tournament thrice each, while Multan Sultans, Peshawar Zalmi, Quetta Gladiators and Karachi Kings have won the HBL PSL title once each.