Pakistan Super League 2023: All you need to know – Dates, Venues, Squads, and Format Explainer
The much-awaited eighth edition of the Pakistan Super League is around the corner with all six participants set to fight for the trophy. The month-long tournament first took place in 2016 and Islamabad United was the winner. They are the most successful team to date with two titles whereas Lahore Qalandars are the current champions.
A total of 36 foreign players were picked alongside local players whereas the squads for the tournament were announced on December 15 when the final draft took place. Shadab Khan will captain Islamabad United while Imad Wasim will be the skipper of Karachi Kings. Top-class batsman Babar Azam will lead Peshawar Zalmi whereas Quetta Gladiators will be highly dependent on Sarfaraz Ahmed.
Previous year’s winner Lahore Qalandars will look to defend their title and skipper Shaheen Afridi would not want to leave any chance to create history. Let us take a look at the dates, venues, squads, captains, and format of this year’s PSL:
Dates
The 2023 edition of the Pakistan Super League will commence on February 13 with the first match to be played between defending champions Lahore Qalandars and Multan Sultans at Multan Cricket Stadium. The final of the esteemed league will take place on March 19 at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. The Qualifier and two eliminators will also take place in Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.
Venues
The league will take place in four stadiums that will host the whole tournament in the span of 35 days. Though there is no team of Rawalpindi in the tournament, the popular Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium will host the most number of matches in the 2023 PSL.
The stadium will host 11 matches followed by 9 matches in National Bank Cricket Arena, Karachi and the same number of games in Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Another ground, Multan Cricket Stadium will host 5 matches in the tournament.
All these stadiums are quite popular among cricket fans as we have witnessed some of the epic encounters in the stadiums of Pakistan.
Squads
Islamabad United: Shadab Khan ©, Asif Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Colin Munro, Paul Stirling, Tymal Mills/Alex Hales, Rahmanullah Gurbaz/Gus Atkinson, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abrar Ahmed, Sohaib Maqsood, Rumman Raees, Zeeshan Zamir, Hassan Nawaz, Rassie van der Dussen/Moeen Ali, Mubasir Khan, Tom Curran, Zafar Gohar
Karachi Kings: Imad Wasim ©, Haider Ali, Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik, Aamir Yamin, Mir Hamza, Sharjeel Khan, Qasim Akram, Matthew Wade, Imran Tahir, James Vince/Adam Rossington, James Fuller, Andrew Tye, Tayyab Tahir, Mohammad Akhlaq, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Tabraiz Shamsi/Faisal Akram, Mohammad Umar, Ben Cutting, Musa Khan
Lahore Qalandars: Shaheen Shah Afridi ©, Rashid Khan/Sam Billings, Haris Rauf, David Wiese, Abdullah Shafique, Harry Brook/Shane Dadswell, Kamran Ghulam, Zaman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Hussain Talat, Sikandar Raza, Liam Dawson, Dilbar Hussain, Mirza Tahir Baig, Ahmed Danlyal, Shawaiz Irfan, Jordan Cox/Kusal Mendis, Jalat Khan, Ahsan Bhatti
Multan Sultans: Mohammad Rizwan ©, Khushdil Shah, Rilee Rossouw, Shan Masood, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tim David, Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah, David Miller/ Izharulhaq Naveed, Josh Little, Akeal Hosein, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Sameen Gul, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Sarwar, Adil Rashid/Wayne Parnell, Arafat Minhas, Kieron Pollard, Ammad Butt
Peshawar Zalmi: Babar Azam ©, Sherfane Rutherford, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Haris, Aamir Jamal, Salman Irshad, Tom-Kohler Cadmore, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Rovman Powell/Richard Gleeson, Mujeeb ur Rahman/Peter Hatzoglou, Danish Aziz, Arshad Iqbal, Saim Ayub, Usman Qadir, Suifyan Muqeem, Haseeb Ullah, Jimmy Neesham, Khurram Shahzad, Haris Sohail
Quetta Gladiators: Sarfaraz Ahmed ©, Mohammad Nawaz, Iftikhar Ahmed, Jason Roy/Will Jacks, Mohammad Hasnain, Naveen ul Haq/Nuwan Thushara, Umar Akmal, Will Smeed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Naseem Shah, Odean Smith/Dwaine Pretorius, Ahsan Ali, Umaid Asif, Muhammad Zahid, Abdul Bangalzai, Aimal Khan, Martin Guptill, Omair Bin Yousuf, Qais Ahmed, Saud Shakeel
Format Explainer
Each team will play every other team twice in the group stage of the tournament in a double round-robin. After the group stage, the top four teams will qualify for the playoff stage of the league.
The top two teams that qualify for the playoffs will play against each other in the Qualifier match. The winner of the game will straightaway go to the finals. On the other hand, the third and fourth-place teams will play Eliminator 1.
The loser of Eliminator 1 will be out of the tournament whereas the winner of the Eliminator 1 will once again play Eliminator 2 with the loser of the Qualifier match. The winner of this battle will reach the finals. So, each team would like to finish in the top two in order to get two chances.