2020 Pakistan Super League (also known as PSL 5 or for sponsorship reasons as HBL PSL 2020) was the fifth season of the

Pakistan Super League The Pakistan Super League (PSL), also known as HBL PSL for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Pakistan, organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Founded by the PCB in 2015, the league features six city-bas ...

, a franchise

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

league which was established by the

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), formerly known as Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP), is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan ...

(PCB) in 2015. It started on 20 February 2020. The league was held entirely in Pakistan for the first time. Karachi Kings won their first title after defeating

Lahore Qalandars Lahore Qalandars is a Pakistani professional cricket franchise which plays in the Pakistan Super League, representing Lahore, the capital of Punjab. They are the current champions of the PSL and the most successful team in the tournament's hist ...

by five wickets in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. The playoff stage of the tournament was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In late March 2020, the PCB were looking at whether to declare the winner of the tournament based on the league standings, or to play the matches at a later date. On 2 July 2020, the PCB announced that they plan to complete the season in November 2020. On 2 September 2020, the PCB confirmed the fixtures for the remaining matches.

Background

In February 2019, the

Prime Minister of Pakistan The prime minister of Pakistan (, Roman Urdu, romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Cabinet of Pakistan, cabinet, desp ...

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

, announced that the fifth season of the tournament will be held entirely in Pakistan. In March 2019, Ehsan Mani, Chairman of

also expressed the desire to host all the matches of this season in Pakistan. On 1 January 2020, PCB announced fixtures for the tournament confirming that the entire tournament will take place in Pakistan.

Teams and squads

The players draft took place on 6 December, with the first round taking place on 3 November 2019. Ahead of the draft, each team was allowed to retain up to eight players from their previous squad. On 1 December 2019, PCB announced the retention players list with all six teams retaining a total of 45 players from the previous season. Ahead of the play-offs, teams included new players in their squad as

Faf du Plessis François "Faf" du Plessis ( ; born 13 July 1984) is a South African professional cricketer and former captain of the South Africa national cricket team. He is considered one of the greatest fielders of all time and among the best all-format ...

, Khurram Shehzad and

Hardus Viljoen GC Viljoen (born 6 March 1989), known as Hardus Viljoen,Borland K (2016Viljoen desperate to earn a place in the national team, '' The Citizen'', 4 July 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2016. is a South African professional cricketer. Viljoen played for ...

replaced Kieron Pollard, Mohammad Amir Khan and

Liam Dawson Liam Andrew Dawson (born 1 March 1990) is an English cricketer who plays for Hampshire and for the England cricket team. He is a right-handed batsman who bowls slow left-arm orthodox spin. He made his international debut for England in July 201 ...

respectively, in

Peshawar Zalmi Peshawar Zalmi (; ; literally meaning "Peshawar's youth") is a Pakistani franchise Twenty20 cricket team which plays in the Pakistan Super League and represents Peshawar, the capital city of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The team is owned b ...

squad. In

Multan Sultans Multan Sultans is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team representing Multan, a city in southern Punjab, in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team was founded in 2017 as an additional sixth team added to the PSL with contra ...

squad Mahmudullah and Adam Lyth replaced

Moeen Ali Moeen Munir Ali (born 18 June 1987) is an English cricketer, who was formerly vice-captain of England in limited overs cricket. He played for England cricket team between 2014 and 2024. In domestic cricket he represents Warwickshire, having p ...

and

Fabian Allen Fabian Allen (born 7 May 1995) is a Jamaican cricketer. He made his first-class debut for Jamaica in the 2016–17 Regional Four Day Competition on 25 November 2016. Prior to his first-class debut, he was part of the West Indies squad for the ...

respectively.

replaced Chris Lynn,

Salman Butt Salman Butt ( Punjabi:سلمان بٹ; born 7 October 1984) is a former Pakistani cricketer and captain who played for Pakistan national cricket team between 2003 and 2010, before getting banned for five years for his involvement in a 2010 spo ...

and

Seekkuge Prasanna Seekkuge Prasanna (; born 27 June 1985) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer, who played limited overs cricket. He is a warrant officer in the Sri Lankan Army. Prasanna is known for aggressive batting at the late overs in ODIs, and a useful leg-spi ...

with

Tamim Iqbal Tamim Iqbal Khan ( Bengali: তামিম ইকবাল খান; born 20 March 1989), commonly known as Tamim Iqbal, is a Bangladeshi former international cricketer and commentator from Chittagong who was captain of the national team in O ...

, Abid Ali and Agha Salman respectively. While, Karachi Kings replaced Chris Jordan and Ali Khan with Sherfane Rutherford and Waqas Maqsood. On 7 November 2020, Peshawar Zalmi replaced England's Liam Livingstone with his national side teammate Saqib Mahmood after he was included in the national team against South Africa. On 8 November, Multan Sultans's squad members Mahmudullah tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

making him unable to take part in the tournament and was replaced by

Brendan Taylor Brendan Ross Murray Taylor (born 6 February 1986) is a Zimbabwean former international cricketer and a former Zimbabwean captain, who played all formats of the game. Taylor is a right-handed batsman but is also an off spinner. In 2015, former Z ...

, and James Vince was replaced by

Joe Denly Joseph Liam Denly (born 16 March 1986) is an English professional cricketer who plays for Kent County Cricket Club. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional leg break bowler who plays as a top-order batsman. Denly played age group cricket ...

after he also tested positive for COVID-19. Kings' Mitchell McClenaghan and Zalmi's Daren Sammy were replaced by

Wayne Parnell Wayne Dillon Parnell (born 30 July 1989) is a South African professional cricketer who has played Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket for the South Africa national cricket team. At domestic level he playe ...

and Sohaib Maqsood respectively. Few days later, Hasan Ali of Peshawar Zalmi was ruled out of the tournament due to back-strain and was replaced by Mohammad Imran, and in Lahore Qalandars squad, Salman Irshad replaced Agha Salman who suffered an ankle injury.

Venues

The tournament took place entirely in Pakistan. Total 34 matches were played in four venues

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

and

Multan Multan is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fifth-most populous city in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. Located along the eastern bank of the Chenab River, it is the List of cities in Pakistan by populatio ...

. The opening ceremony took place in Karachi. The playoffs were scheduled to take place in Lahore in November 2020, after being postponed for 8 months due to COVID-19 pandemic but were later shifted to Karachi.

Match officials

Umpires

* Faisal Afridi * Aslam Bareach *

Aleem Dar Aleem Dar PP ( Punjabi, ; born 6 June 1968) is a Pakistani cricket umpire and former first-class cricketer. He is a former member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires. Dar won the David Shepherd Trophy three years in a row from 2009 to 2011, aft ...

Michael Gough Francis Michael Gough ( ; 23 November 1916 – 17 March 2011) was a British actor who made more than 150 film and television appearances. He is known for his roles in the Hammer horror films from 1958, with his first role as Sir Arthur Holmwoo ...

* Majid Hussain * Nasir Hussain * Richard Illingworth * Imtiaz Iqbal * Saqib Khan * Ranmore Martinesz * Tariq Rasheed * Ahsan Raza * Shozab Raza * Rashid Riaz * Asif Yaqoob

Referees

* Mohammad Anees * Muhammad Javed *

Roshan Mahanama Deshabandu Roshan Siriwardene Mahanama (, ; born 31 May 1966) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and a former ICC match referee. He was a key member for 1996 Cricket World Cup winning team for Sri Lanka. He is the first man to have stood as a ma ...

* Aziz-ur-Rehman

Promotion in media

The league was promoted on social media by the hashtag #HBLPSLV and anthem titled # TayyarHain.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony was held on 20 February 2020 at National Stadium, Karachi, prior to the first match of the season. Directed by Shubhra Bhardwaj, he show began with the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

, before a group of drummers and trumpeters performed an instrumental version of the official PSL 2020 anthem. Later, the first performance of the night was a Sufi medley featuring singer Sanam Marvi, qawwals

Fareed Ayaz Ghulam Fariduddin Ayaz Al-Hussaini Qawwal (born in Hyderabad, India) is a Pakistani Sufi devotional singer. He belongs to the Qawwal Bacchon gharana of Delhi. He and his relatives are the flag-bearers of that school of music (gharana), which ...

and Abu Mohammad, and the band Soch. This was followed by Sajjad Ali,

Aima Baig Aima Noor-ul Ain Baig (, ; born 10 March 1995) is a Pakistani singer, known for her soundtracks in films and television. Started as appearing on Dunya News' program '' Mazaaq Raat'' during 2015–2017, she rose to fame from her songs in '' L ...

Abrar-ul-Haq Abrar-ul-Haq () is a Pakistani singer-songwriter, philanthropist, and a politician. His debut 1995 album ''Billo De Ghar'' sold over 40.3million albums worldwide, which made him a household name and granted him the title of "King of Pakistan ...

and

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (, ; born 9 December 1974) is a Pakistani Punjabi singer, primarily Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music. Khan is one of the most popular and highest paid singers in Pakistan. He is the nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali Kha ...

taking the stage one after another to perform their songs. The ceremony concluded with

Ali Azmat Ali Azmat Pacha (born 20 April 1966) is a Pakistani singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He is best known as the lead singer for the influential Sufi rock band Junoon and for his subsequent solo career later followed by a career as an act ...

Arif Lohar Arif Lohar (; born 18 April 1966) is a Pakistani singer who is associated with Punjabi folk music and an occasional actor. The son of the renowned folk singer Alam Lohar, Arif Lohar became popular in Pakistan and India after his famous song " ...

, Haroon and

Asim Azhar Asim Azhar (; born 29 October 1996) is a Pakistani singer, songwriter, musician and an actor. He started his career as a singer on YouTube, covering contemporary Western songs before he became a public figure. Career Asim Azhar was born on ...

performing the PSL 2020 anthem Tayyar Hain, accompanied by a fireworks display in the background.

Cancer awareness

The

childhood cancer Childhood cancer is cancer in a child. About 80% of childhood cancer cases in high-income countries are being able to treat with modern treatments and good medical care. Yet, only 10% of children with cancer live in high-income countries where pro ...

awareness day and the

breast cancer awareness Breast cancer awareness is an effort to raising awareness, raise awareness and reduce the Social stigma, stigma of breast cancer through education about Breast cancer screening, screening, Cancer signs and symptoms, symptoms, and Breast cancer ...

day were observed on 22 February and 7 March respectively, with the stadiums themed as gold and pink respectively.

COVID-19 pandemic impact

The later part of the tournament was affected by

. The matches were reduced from 34 to 33 and the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

were replaced by knockouts thus shortening the tournament by 4 days. The final was rescheduled from 22 March to 18 March. The matches from 13 March were announced to take place behind closed doors. As many as eighteen players were confirmed to not take part in any future matches after the increased cases of

in Pakistan as well as in the rest of the world, and also to avoid being stranded from their home countries due to border closures, as was the case for New Zealanders Colin Munro,

Luke Ronchi Luke Ronchi ( ; born 23 April 1981) is a New Zealand-Australian cricket coach and a former cricketer. He represented both the Australia national cricket team and New Zealand national cricket team in international cricket, the only player to have ...

, and Mitchell McClenaghan. On 17 March 2020, it was announced that the knockout stage is suspended after English cricketer

Alex Hales Alexander Daniel Hales (born 3 January 1989) is an English cricketer. He is a right-handed opening batter who represented the England cricket team across all formats and played domestically for Nottinghamshire. He made his One Day International ...

showed symptoms of the virus. Hales observed self-isolation on his return to England, whereas PCB released a statement saying that Hales was not the player suspected of coronavirus and instead refused to reveal the identity of the player suspected of having COVID-19.

League stage

Format

The six teams played 10 matches each and got 2 points for every win, none for a loss and 1 point for a no result. The top four team in the group stage were qualified for the play-offs.

Points table

Summary

League progression

Fixtures

The PCB confirmed the fixtures for the tournament on 1 January 2020. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Playoffs

On 2 September 2020, PCB announced the venue and dates for the remaining four matches, with

Gaddafi Stadium Gaddafi Stadium formerly known as Lahore Stadium, is a cricket stadium in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan, owned by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). With a capacity of 34,000, it is the List of cricket grounds in Pakistan, largest c ...

hosting all four; matches will be held on 14 and 15, with the

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

scheduled on 17 November. However, later the matches were shifted to

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football ...

due to poor air quality in

Qualifier

Eliminators

Eliminator 1

Eliminator 2

Final

Awards and statistics

Most runs

Babar Azam Mohammad Babar Azam (Urdu, ; ; born 15 October 1994) is a Pakistani international cricketer and a former Captain (cricket), captain of the Pakistan national cricket team , national team in all three formats of the game. A right-handed top-orde ...

of Karachi Kings received the Green Cap.

Most wickets

Shaheen Afridi Shaheen Shah Afridi (; born 6 April 2000) is a Pakistani cricket, international cricketer and former captain of the national T20I team. A left-arm fast bowler, he made his debut for Pakistan in 2018, and quickly became a leading figure, winning t ...

received the Maroon Cap.

Notes

References

External links

*
Series home
at

ESPNcricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pakistan Super League 2020 in Pakistani cricket February 2020 sports events in Pakistan March 2020 sports events in Pakistan COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan Cricket events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic