It’s time of the year again when every Pakistani cricket fan waits for Pakistan Super League as soon as the New Year begins. We are into the year 2020 now and with that the 5th edition of the mega event is now less than 50 days away. The franchise-based T20 cricket league of Pakistan – PSL 5 or Pakistan Super League 2020 – will take place entirely in Pakistan. Yes, you read that right.
Unlike previous 4 editions, there will be no show in the deserts this year. The tournament will commence in its usual style i.e. with a grand ceremony which will take place in Karachi on 20th February 2020. The ceremony will be followed by the tourney’s first fixture between defending champions Quetta Gladiators and two times champs Islamabad United. PSL 5 will be played across 34 days from 20th February to 22nd March.
A total of 6 teams – Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars, Multan Sultans, Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators – will be competing against each other twice in the double round robin stage before moving into the play-offs. Out of 34 matches, 14 games would be played in Lahore including the tournament Final. Karachi would be hosting 9 games including the Qualifier while Rawalpindi would be home to 8 matches. 3 matches would be played in Multan Cricket Stadium. It is pertinent to mention that out of 34 matches, 8 would be Day matches while 26 would be played at Night. Day matches would commence from 14:00 [PKT] while Night matches would start from 19:00 [PKT].
Pakistan Super League 2020
- Tournament dates: 20th February to 22nd March (34 days)
- Tournament format: Double Round Robin and Play-offs
- Host country: Pakistan
- Number of teams: 6
- Number of matches: 34
- Venues: Karachi, Multan, Lahore and Rawalpindi
Pakistan Super League 2020 operate on double round robin format, each of the participating team will face every other team twice. In the early phase of group stages, each win shall translate in award of two points; one point in case of no result/tied and no points for loss. The top 4 teams will qualify for the play-off stage of the tournament.
PSL 2020 Squads
On 6th December, a glittery and star-studded PSL draft ceremony took place in Lahore. The owners of all the teams including the captains, coaches and the management handpicked the best possible available options out of a pool of over 500 international cricketers.
There were total 5 categories in which a player was picked or retained and they are categorized as following along with their salary bracket:
- Platinum – PKR23m-PKR34m (approx. US$147K-US$218K)
- Diamond – PKR11.5m-PKR16m (approx. US$73K-US$103K)
- Gold – PKR6.9m-PKR8.9m (approx. US$44K-US$58K)
- Silver – PKR2.4m-PKR5.4m (approx. US$15K-US$35K)
- Emerging – PKR1m-PKR1.5m (approx. US$6.5K-US$9.5K)
The management of PSL set the budget cap for the optional supplementary round at PKR 19 million (approx. US$120K). As a result, teams were allowed to pick up to two players in this round.
Islamabad United
Platinum: Shadab Khan, Dale Steyn, Colin Ingram
Diamond: Faheem Ashraf (brand ambassador), Asif Ali, Colin Munro
Gold: Luke Ronchi (mentor), Hussain Talat, Rumman Raees
Silver: Amad Butt, Musa Khan, Rizwan Hussain, Zafar Gohar, Phil Salt
Emerging: Aqif Javed, Ahmed Safi Abdullah
Supplementary: Saif Badar, Rassie van der Dussen
Coach: Misbah-ul-Haq
Players released from PSL 2019: Alex Hales, Cameron Delport, Chadwick Walton, Ian Bell, Mohammad Sami, Nasir Nawaz, Philip Salt, Rumman Raees, Sahibzada Farhan, Samit Patel, Waqas Maqsood, Wayne Parnell, Zafar Gohar and Zahir Khan
Karachi Kings
Platinum: Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir, Alex Hales,
Diamond: Imad Wasim (brand ambassador), Iftikhar Ahmed, Chris Jordan
Gold: Aamir Yamin, Sharjeel Khan, Cameron Delport
Silver: Usama Mir, Mohammad Rizwan, Umaid Asif, Dan Lawrance, Ali Khan
Emerging: Umer Khan, Arshad Iqbal
Supplementary: Liam Plunkett, Awais Zia
Coach: Dean Jones
Players released from PSL 2019: Aaron Summers, Abrar Ahmed, Ali Imran, Awais Zia, Ben Dunk, Colin Ingram, Colin Munro, Jaahid Ali, Liam Livingstone, Mohammad Rizwan, Ravi Bopara, Sikandar Raza, Sohail Khan and Usman Shinwari (transferred to Lahore Qalandars)
Lahore Qalandars
Platinum: Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Chris Lynn
Diamond: Shaheen Shah Afridi (brand ambassador), David Wiese, Usman Shinwari
Gold: Haris Rauf, Sohail Akhtar, Samit Patel
Silver: Salman Butt, Seekkuge Prsanna, Ben Dunk, Farzan Raja, Jaahid Ali
Emerging: M Faizan
Supplementary: Lendl Simmons, Dilbar Hussain
Coach: Aqib Javed
Players released from PSL 2019: AB de Villiers (not available in 2020), Agha Salman, Aizaz Cheema, Anton Devcich, Asela Gunaratne, Brendan Taylor, Carlos Brathwaite, Corey Anderson (not available in 2020), Gohar Ali, Hardus Viljoen, Haris Sohail, Hassan Khan, Mohammad Imran, Rahat Ali, Riki Wessels, Ryan ten Doeschate (not available in 2020), Saad Ali, Sandeep Lamichhane, Umair Masood, Yasir Shah
Multan Sultans
Platinum: Mohammad Irfan, Moeen Ali, Rilee Rossouw
Diamond: Shahid Afridi (mentor), Zeeshan Ashraf, Ravi Bopara
Gold: James Vince (brand ambassador), Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanvir
Silver: Ali Shafiq, Shan Masood, Khushdil Shah, Usman Qadir, Fabian Allen
Emerging: Mohammad Ilyas, Rohail Nazir
Supplementary: Imran Tahir, Bilawal Bhatti
Coach: Tom Moody
Players released from PSL 2019: Andre Russell (not available in 2020), Chris Green, Dan Christian, Hammad Azam, Joe Denly, Johnson Charles, Laurie Evans, M. Irfan Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Junaid, Nicholas Pooran, Numan Ali, Qais Ahmed, Shakeel Ansar, Shoaib Malik, Steve Smith (not available in 2020), Tom Moores and Umar Siddiq
Peshawar Zalmi
Platinum: Hasan Ali, Kieron Pollard, Wahab Riaz
Diamond: Kamran Akmal (brand ambassador), Tom Banton, Shoaib Malik
Gold: Darren Sammy (mentor), Imam-ul-Haq, Liam Dawson
Silver: Umar Amin, Mohammad Mohsin, Rahat Ali, Dwaine Pretorius, Adil Amin
Emerging: Amir Khan, Amir Ali
Supplementary: Liam Livingstone, Haider Ali Khan
Coach: Muhammed Akram
Players released from PSL 2019: Andre Fletcher, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Ibtesam Sheikh, Jamal Anwar, Khalid Usman, Lendl Simmons, Liam Dawson, Misbah-ul-Haq (not available in 2020), Nabi Gul, Sameen Gul, Samiullah, Sohaib Maqsood, Tymal Mills, Umaid Asif, Waqar Salamkheil and Wayne Madsen
Peshawar Zalmi captain Darran Sammi (C) wears a traditional turban as he celebrates with teammates his team’s victory over Quetta Gladiators in the final cricket match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at The Gaddafi Cricket Stadium in Lahore on March 5, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / AAMIR QURESHI (Photo credit should read AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images)
Quetta Gladiators
Platinum: Mohammad Nawaz, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Jason Roy
Diamond: Shane Watson (mentor), Ahmed Shehzad, Ben Cutting
Gold: Umar Akmal (ambassador), Mohammad Hasnain, Fawad Ahmed
Silver: Ahsan Ali, Naseem Shah, Sohail Khan, Tymal Mills, Abdul Nasir
Emerging: Arish Ali Khan, Azam Khan
Supplementary: Keemo Paul, Khurram Manzoor
Coach: Moin Khan
Players released from PSL 2019: Anwar Ali, Danish Aziz, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Fawad Ahmed, Ghulam Mudassar, Harry Gurney, Jalat Khan, Max Waller, Mohammad Asghar, Mohammad Azam Khan, Mohammad Irfan Jr, Rilee Rossouw, Saud Shakil and Sohail Tanvir
PSL 2020 Schedule
A total of 34 matches will be played across 34 days from 20th February to 22nd March 2020 across four different venues of Pakistan (Karachi, Multan, Lahore and Rawalpindi) between 6 different teams for one PSL trophy. The schedule of Pakistan Super League 2020 is as following:
Matches in Karachi
February 20 – Quetta Gladiators v Islamabad United (Night)
February 21 – Karachi Kings v Peshawar Zalmi (Day)
February 22 – Quetta Gladiators v Peshawar Zalmi (D)
February 23 – Karachi Kings v Quetta Gladiators (D)
March 12 – Karachi Kings v Lahore Qalandars (N)
March 13 – Peshawar Zalmi v Multan Sultans (N)
March 14 – Karachi Kings v Islamabad United (N)
March 15 –Quetta Gladiators v Karachi Kings (N)
March 17 – Qualifier (1 v 2) (N)
Matches in Multan
February 26 – Multan Sultans v Peshawar Zalmi (N)
February 28 – Multan Sultans v Karachi Kings (D)
February 29 – Multan Sultans v Quetta Gladiators (D)
Matches in Lahore
February 21 – Lahore Qalandars v Multan Sultans (N)
February 22 – Islamabad United v Multan Sultans (N)
February 23 – Lahore Qalandars v Islamabad United (N)
March 3 – Quetta Gladiators v Lahore Qalandars (N)
March 4 – Islamabad United v Lahore Qalandars (N)
March 6 – Karachi Kings v Multan Sultans (N)
March 7 – Lahore Qalandars v Quetta Gladiators (N)
March 8 – Lahore Qalandars v Karachi Kings (N)
March 10 – Lahore Qalandars v Peshawar Zalmi (N)
March 11 – Quetta Gladiators v Multan Sultans (N)
March 15 – Multan Sultans v Lahore Qalandars (D)
March 18 – Eliminator 1 (3 v 4), Gaddafi Stadium (N)
March 20 – Eliminator 2 (loser Qualifier v winner Eliminator 1) (N)
March 22 – Final, Gaddafi Stadium (N)
Matches in Rawalpindi
February 27 – Islamabad United v Quetta Gladiators (N)
February 28 – Peshawar Zalmi v Lahore Qalandars (N)
February 29 – Islamabad United v Peshawar Zalmi (N)
March 1 – Islamabad United v Karachi Kings (N)
March 2 – Peshawar Zalmi v Karachi Kings (N)
March 5 – Peshawar Zalmi v Quetta Gladiators (N)
March 7 – Peshawar Zalmi v Islamabad United (D)
March 8 – Multan Sultans v Islamabad United (D)
Which side you will be rooting for in PSL 5?
