Pakistan Super League has become the most premier professional cricket league in Pakistan. The first edition of the tournament was played in 2016 and we are now into the 4th edition of the mega event. Known as PSL 4 – or for sponsorship reasons, HBL PSL 2019 – the tourney will kick off with a grand ceremony on 14th February along with the opening clash between defending Champions Islamabad United and one of the most talked franchises, Lahore Qalandars. Pakistan Super League 2019 will be played across 32 days.
A total of 6 teams – Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars, Multan Sultans, Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators – will be competing against each twice in the double round robin stage before moving into the play-offs. Out of 34 matches, 26 games would be played in UAE (Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah) while as many as 8 matches would be played in Pakistan (Lahore and Karachi) including the finals.
Pakistan Super League 2019
- Tournament dates: 14th February to 17th March (32 days)
- Tournament format: Double Round Robin and Play-offs
- Host country: UAE and Pakistan
- Number of teams: 6
- Number of matches: 34 (26 in UAE and 8 in Pakistan)
- Venues: Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Lahore, Karachi
While it will operate on double round robin format, each of the participating team will face every other team twice in the PSL 2019. 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 2019 Squads
Every franchise was asked to retain 10 players during the trade and retention window which began on 29th September 2018. However, on 20th November 2018, the PSL squads for 2019 were finalized in a star-studded PSL draft ceremony in Islamabad. The owners, captains, coaches and the management of all the franchises were looking to secure the best possible player for their respective sides.
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 ($140,000-230,000)
- Diamond ($75,000-80,000)
- Gold ($50,000-60,000)
- Silver (22,000-33,000)
- Emerging ($10,000-12,000)
- Supplementary
Islamabad United
Captain: Luke Ronchi
Platinum: Luke Ronchi, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf
Diamond: Asif Ali, Ian Bell, Muhammed Sami
Gold: Philip Salt, Rumman Raees, Samit Patel
Silver: Sahibzada Farhan, Cameron Delport, Waqas Maqsood, Zafar Gohar, Hussain Talat
Emerging: Musa Khan, Nasir Nawaz
Supplementary: Rizwan Hussain, Zahir Khan, Amad Butt, Wayne Parnell
Coach: Dean Jones
Karachi Kings
Captain: Imad Wasim
Platinum: Babar Azam, Colin Munro, Muhammed Amir
Diamond: Colin Ingram, Usman Khan Shinwari, Imad Wasim
Gold: Ravi Bopara, Muhammed Rizwan, Sikandar Raza
Silver: Awais Zia, Iftikhar Ahmed, Aaron Summers, Usama Mir, Sohail Khan
Emerging: Abrar Ahmed, Ali Imran
Supplementary: Ben Dunk, Jaahid Ali, Aamer Yamin, Liam Livingstone
Coach: Mickey Arthur
Lahore Qalandars
Captain: Muhammed Hafeez
Platinum: AB de Villiers, Muhammed Hafeez, Fakhar Zaman
Diamond: Carlos Brathwaite, Corey Anderson, Yasir Shah
Gold: Anton Devcich, Sandeep Lamichhane, Rahat Ali
Silver: Agha Salman, Sohail Akhtar, Haris Sohail, Hassan Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi
Emerging: Umair Maqsood, Muhammed Imran
Supplementary: Brendan Taylor, Gauhar Ali, Aizaz Cheema, Harris Rauf
Coach: Aqib Javed
Multan Sultans
Captain: Shoaib Malik
Platinum: Steven Smith, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi
Diamond: Joe Denly, Junaid Khan, Muhammed Irfan
Gold: Shan Masood, Nicholas Pooran, Qais Ahmed
Silver: Umar Siddique, Laurie Evans, Muhammed Abbas, Muhammed Irfan Khan, Nauman Ali
Emerging: Muhammed Junaid, Muhammed Ilyas
Supplementary: Tom Moores, Ali Shafiq, Shakeel Ansar, Daniel Christian
Coach: Tom Moody
Peshawar Zalmi
Captain: Darren Sammy
Platinum: Kieron Pollard, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali
Diamond: Kamran Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Darren Sammy
Gold: Dawid Malan, Umer Amin, Liam Dawson
Silver: Sohaib Maqsood, Wayne Madsen, Jamal Anwar, Umaid Asif, Khalid Usman
Emerging: Nabi Gul, Sameen Gul
Supplementary: Samiullah, Ibtisam Sheikh, Chris Jordan, Waqar Salamkheil
Coach: Muhammed Akram
Quetta Gladiators
Captain: Sarfraz Ahmed
Platinum: Sarfraz Ahmed, Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo
Diamond: Shane Watson, Sohail Tanvir, Muhammed Nawaz
Gold: Rilee Rossouw, Umar Akmal, Fawad Ahmed
Silver: Saud Shakil, Muhammed Asghar, Anwar Ali, Ehsan Ali, Danish Aziz
Emerging: Ghulam Mudassar, Nasim Shah
Supplementary: Ahmed Shehzad, Muhammed Azam Khan, Harry Gurney, Jalat Khan
Coach: Moin Khan
PSL 2019 Schedule
A total of 34 matches will be played across 32 days from 14th February to 17th March 2019 across two different countries – UAE and Pakistan – and 5 different venues between 6 different team for one PSL trophy. The schedule of Pakistan Super League 2019 is as following:
Matches In Dubai
14th February: Islamabad United vs Lahore Qalandars
15th February: Multan Sultans vs Karachi Kings AND Peshawar Zalmi vs Quetta Gladiators
16th February: Islamabad United vs Multan Sultans AND Lahore Qalandars vs Karachi Kings
17th February: Islamabad United vs Quetta Gladiators AND Peshawar Zalmi vs Lahore Qalandars
26th February: Multan Sultans vs Islamabad United
27th February: Lahore Qalandars vs Quetta Gladiators AND Karachi Kings vs Islamabad United
28th February: Multan Sultans vs Peshawar Zalmi AND Karachi Kings vs Lahore Qalandars
1st March: Peshawar Zalmi vs Islamabad United AND Multan Sultans vs Quetta Gladiators
Matches In Sharjah
20th February: Quetta Gladiators vs Multan Sultans
21st February: Peshawar Zalmi vs Karachi Kings
22nd February: Multan Sultans vs Lahore Qalandars AND Islamabad United vs Peshawar Zalmi
23rd February: Quetta Gladiators vs Lahore Qalandars AND Islamabad United vs Karachi Kings
24th February: Peshawar Zalmi vs Multan Sultans AND Quetta Gladiators vs Karachi Kings
Matches In Abu Dhabi
4th March: Quetta Gladiators vs Peshawar Zalmi AND Karachi Kings vs Multan Sultans
5th March: Lahore Qalandars vs Peshawar Zalmi AND Quetta Gladiators vs Islamabad United
Matches In Lahore
9th March: Lahore Qalandars vs Islamabad United
10th March: Lahore Qalandars vs Multan Sultans
12th March: Eliminator 1 – No. 3 ranked team vs No. 4 ranked team in the points table
Matches In Karachi
7th March: Karachi Kings vs Peshawar Zalmi
10th March: Karachi Kings vs Quetta Gladiators
13th March: Qualifier – No. 1 ranked team vs No. 2 ranked team in the points table
15th March: Eliminator 2 – Winner of Eliminator 1 vs Loser of Qualifier
17th March: Final
PSL 2019 Broadcasting (TV)
Pakistan: PTV Sports and Ten Sports
India: DSport
Bangladesh: Gazi TV (GTV)
Sri Lanka: Dialog TV (DTV)
UAE/MENA: OSN Sport Cricket HD / Yupp TV
UK: Prime TV
South Africa: Super Sport
USA: Willow TV
Caribbean: Flow Sports
Besides the coverage on Television, Cricket Gateway will be the official live streaming partner along with Cricingif and that the matches could be live streamed in Pakistan, India, UK, USA and the UAE.
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section against the following questions:
You will be rooting for which team?
Which side will eventually win the Pakistan Super League 2019?
On paper, which team is the strongest?
