Pakistan Super League

Pakistan Super League
Countries  Pakistan
Administrator PSL Governing Body, PCB
Format Twenty20
First tournament 2016
Next tournament 2017
Tournament format Double round robin and Playoffs
Number of teams 5
Current champion Islamabad United (1st title)
Most successful Islamabad United (1)
Most runs Pakistan Umar Akmal (335)
Most wickets West Indies Cricket Board Andre Russell (16)
TV List of Broadcasters
Website Official website

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) (Urdu: پاکستان سپر لیگ‎) is a professional franchise Twenty20 mens cricket league. The league is headquartered in Lahore and as of 2016 consists of five franchises nominally representing cities in Pakistan. It is operated by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and was established in 2016. Due to the security situation in Pakistan the first season of the league operated entirely in the United Arab Emirates.

Instead of operating as an association of independently owned teams, the league is a single entity in which each franchise is owned and controlled by investors. The commercial rights to the initial franchises were sold for PKR 985 Crores ($91.4 million) for a span of 10 years in December 2015.

Islamabad United were crowned champions of the inaugural PSL season, defeating Quetta Gladiators in the final on 23 February 2016.[1]

History

Establishment

In September 2015, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officially announced the launch of the PSL. Former Pakistani national team captains Wasim Akram and Rameez Raja signed up to promote the PSL and become brand ambassadors of the league for three years.[2]

After several years of planning and two previous failed attempts,[3][4] the league officially began on 4 February 2016 in the United Arab Emirates, after the suspension of the Haier T20 Cup, the previous T20 league in Pakistan. The first season included five teams nominally based in Pakistani cities[5][6] and players from 11 different countries.[7] Pakistanis have historically constituted the majority of the players in domestic T20 competitions, but in its first season the PSL had a higher percentage of international players. The league uses a draft system for player recruitment similar to that used in many North American professional sports leagues and as opposed to the auction system used in some other T20 leagues.[7]

The PSL's official logo and anthem were launched on 20 September 2015 in a ceremony in Lahore. The anthem, Ab Khel Ke Dikha, was sung by Ali Zafar and the PSL logo was revealed by 3Di.[8] The ceremony was attended by current and retired cricketers, as well as Pakistani celebrities.

Prior to the 2017 Pakistan Super League players draft in October 2016, league chairman Najam Sethi announced that the league hoped to be able to hold the 2017 final in Lahore in Pakistan following the agreement of Punjabi officials.[9][10] In the first season of the league all matches, including the final, were held in the UAE due to security reasons. Sethi claimed that the league had signed foreign players with the condition that if their team reached the final that they would have to travel to Lahore, although this claim was rebutted by agents whose clients had agreed that they would only travel to play the final in Pakistan if the security advice prior to the final was favourable and who could not be forced to travel.[10][11] An official of a PSL team said that security would need to be "extremely high" and that "cash incentives" had been offered to foreign players to agree to travel to Lahore, although no action would be taken against any player who refused to do so.[11] In August 2016 Sethi had stated that if players were not willing to travel that teams would be able to pick from a pool of foreign players from other teams who had agreed to do so and that the PCB could organise "foolproof security" for the event.[9]

Expansion

The league chairman Najam Sethi announced on 20 April 2016 that discussions had taken place with the Emirates Cricket Board to agree a "tentative" date for the 2017 Pakistan Super League in the UAE in February 2017.[12] The possibility of adding a sixth team to the league in 2017,[13] possibly in Kashmir, was also under discussion[14] but was rejected by the middle of May 2016.[15][16]

Format

PSL Playoffs

The first season of the PSL was played in a double round-robin format. Every team played each other twice and the top four advanced to the playoffs.

The league follows the rules and regulations dictated by the International Cricket Council. In the group stage, two points are awarded for a win, one for a no-result and none for a loss. In the event of tied scores after both teams have faced their quota of overs, a super over is used to determine the match winner. In the group stage teams are ranked on the following criteria:

  1. Higher number of points
  2. If equal, higher number of wins
  3. If equal, least number of defeats
  4. If still equal, the results of head to head meetings
  5. If still equal, net run rate

In any play-off match in which there is no result, a super over is used to determine the winner. If the super over is not possible or the result of the over is a tie, the team which finished in the highest league position at the end of the regular season is deemed the winner of the match.

Teams

According to a PCB press release, around 20 parties showed an interest in buying franchises for the league before the first season.[17] On 18 October 2015 the Board began accepting tenders for franchises with a deadline for bids of 15 November.[18]

According to a statement by the PCB, bid winners would be granted the rights to a franchise for a term of 10 years.[19] Interested parties included the ARY Media Group, Omar Associates, Arif Habib Group, Haier, Mobilink as well as international groups including Leonine Global Sports and the Qatar Lubricants Company (QALCO).[20]

All five franchises for the first season of the league were sold on 3 December 2015 after seven bidders presented formal proposals.[21] The initial player draft took place on 21 and 22 December 2015. All five teams picked their players and the teams were finalised within the following month with a salary cap for each team.[22][23]

Team City/Province Owner Price Captain Head Coach
Islamabad United Islamabad, Capital Territory Leonine Global Sports
(Ali Naqvi & Amna Naqvi)		 US$15 Million (Ten Year Agreement) Pakistan Misbah-ul-Haq Australia Dean Jones
Karachi Kings Karachi, Sindh ARY Media Group
(Salman Iqbal, CEO)		 US$26 Million (Ten Year Agreement) Sri Lanka Kumar Sangakkara[24] South Africa Mickey Arthur
Lahore Qalandars Lahore, Punjab Qatar Lubricants Company Limited
(Fawad Rana, MD)		 US$25 Million (Ten Year Agreement) New Zealand Brendon McCullum[25] South Africa Paddy Upton
Peshawar Zalmi Peshawar, Khyber Pakthunkhwa Haier Pakistan
(Javed Afridi, CEO)		 US$16 Million (Ten Year Agreement) West Indies Cricket Board Darren Sammy[26] Pakistan Mohammad Akram
Quetta Gladiators Quetta, Balochistan Omar Associates
(Nadeem Omar, Director)		 US$11 Million (Ten Year Agreement) Pakistan Sarfraz Ahmed Pakistan Moin Khan

Winners

Season Teams Host Final Man of the Tournament
Winner Result Runner-up
2016
Details		 5 United Arab Emirates
UAE		 Islamabad United
175/4 (18.4 overs)		 Islamabad United won by 6 wickets
Dubai (scorecard)		 Quetta Gladiators
174/7 (20 overs)		 England Ravi Bopara (Karachi Kings)

Team records

Team Span Mat Won Lost Tie&W Tie&L NR Win %
Islamabad United 2016–present117 4 0 0 0 63.66%
Karachi Kings 2016–present 9 2 7 0 0 0 22.22%
Lahore Qalandars 2016–present 8 2 6 0 0 0 25.00%
Peshawar Zalmi 2016–present 10 6 4 0 0 0 60.00%
Quetta Gladiators 2016–present 10 7 3 0 0 0 70.00%

Note:

Sponsorship

The PSL's initial title sponsorship was awarded to Habib Bank Limited for three years in December 2015.[27] Sponsorship deals associated with the league, including the title sponsorship, are estimated to be worth more than $6 million.[28] Other sponsors include Brighto Paints, J. a clothing company owned by Junaid Jamshed, Triptym, Zong, Cool and Cool, Giggly Boom Boom Bubble, ZIC Lubricant Oil, Huawei, PTCL, Qatar Airways, Mobilink, Pepsi and OLX.

Broadcasting

Sunset + Vine were awarded rights as official broadcasters for the first four seasons of the league. Ten Sports, PTV Sports and Geo Super were awarded broadcast rights in Pakistan for the first three seasons. The value of the broadcasting deal was $15 million, with the PCB selling the global television rights to Tech Front, a United Arab Emirati group, for the same duration.[29] In the first season matches were streamed live on YouTube in Pakistan, on the PSL official site and via the PSL app.[30] Viewers worldwide, excluding Pakistan and the Middle East, could live stream matches on cricketgateway.[31][32]

Country Years Channels
 Pakistan 2016 – present PTV Sports
Ten Sports
Geo Super
 Bangladesh 2016–present Gazi TV
 Sri Lanka 2016–present Ten Sports
 United Arab Emirates 2016 – present OSN
 West Indies 2016–present Flow TV

Advertising rights for the first three years of the league's operation were awarded to Pakistani company Blitz Advertising.[33]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Islamabad crowned PSL champions, Express Tribune, 2016-02-23. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
  2. ↑ "Wasim Akram, Ramiz Raja become official ambassadors for PSL". The Express Tribune. 8 September 2015.
  3. ↑ Pakistan Super League set to be moved to UAE Gulf Times, 2015-09-21. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
  4. ↑ Rishad Mahmoud (2016) Pakistan Super League: Morale booster or gimmick? Al Jazeera, 2016-02-04. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
  5. ↑ Qasim Nauman (2016) Pakistan Super League: Twenty20 Underdogs Quetta Gladiators Emerge as Favorites in Final, The Wall Street Journal, 2016-02-23. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
  6. ↑ "Dubai, Sharjah venues for Pakistan Super League". Cricinfo.
  7. 1 2 "Pakistan Super League: Draft pick order decided, logo launched". The Express Tribune. 15 December 2015.
  8. ↑ Umer Toor. "Projection Mapping Event Goes Live on Tv Channels in Pakistan on Pakistan Super League Launch". Projection Mapping - Pakistan since 2010.
  9. 1 2 Farooq U (2016) PCB initiates steps to host PSL final in Lahore, CricInfo, 2016-08-22. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  10. 1 2 Farooq U (2016) PSL 2017 final will be held in Pakistan - Najam Sethi, CricInfo, 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  11. 1 2 Gollapudi N (2016) Travelling to Pakistan still risky, says FICA, CricInfo, 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  12. ↑ Tentative dates finalised for second PSL, Express Tribune 2016-04-20. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
  13. ↑ PSL to include a sixth team for the second edition, ARY Sports 2016-04-20. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
  14. ↑ Najam-Sethi dreams about including Kashmir in PSL ARY Sports 2016-04-23. Retrieved 2016-04-23.
  15. ↑ PSL's second edition to remain five-team event, PKKH/, 2016-05-18. Retrieved 2016-05-18.
  16. ↑ PSLs second edition to remain five team event, "Express Tribune", 2016-05-18. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
  17. ↑ "PSL promises IPL style Cricket". NDTV Sports. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  18. ↑ "PCB invites bids for Pakistan Super League franchises". Daily Pakistan. Ali Zain. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  19. ↑ "PCB initiates bids for Pakistan Super League franchises". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  20. ↑ "Pakistan Super League: Seven companies fight it out to buy franchises". Express Tribune. 3 December 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  21. ↑ "Pakistan Super League: Seven companies fight it out to buy franchises". The Express Tribune. Nabeel Hashmi. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  22. ↑ "With 308 cricketers on board, PSL to kick off drafting on Dec 21". Dawn. 2015-12-10. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  23. ↑ "PSL player draft". Espncricinfo. 2015-12-21. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  24. ↑ http://www.samaa.tv/sports/2016/10/kumar-sangakkara-named-as-karachi-kings-captain/Samaa News, 2016-10-19. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  25. ↑ http://dailytimes.com.pk/sports/20-Sep-16/qalandars-sign-mccullum-as-new-captain/Daily times, 2016-09-20. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
  26. ↑ http://dunyanews.tv/en/Cricket/357485-PSL-2017-Afridi-hands-over-Zalmi-captaincy-to-Sammy/Dunya News, 2016-10-19. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  27. ↑ Pakistan Super League PSL Teams, Sponsors, Broadcasting Rights Sold, Total Sported, 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  28. ↑ "Pakistan Super League ropes in HBL bank as title sponsors". gulfnews.com (Gulf News). Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  29. ↑ "Karachi attracts highest bid as PSL teams sold for $93 million". Associated Press of Pakistan and Dawn Sport. DAWN. 4 December 2015. p. 1. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  30. ↑ "PSL: Live on internet". ARY News. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  31. ↑ "Watch Pakistan Super League game 1 live: Islamabad United vs Quetta Gladiators live streaming and TV information". International Business Times, India Edition. 4 February 2016.
  32. ↑ Techfront Group (4 February 2016). "Watch the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2016 Live in India, United Kingdom, South... -- CHENNAI, February 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --".
  33. ↑ PSL. "PCB has awarded the Media Advertising Rights for the first three seasons of HBL PSL".
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