2023 Pakistan Super League (referred to as HBL PSL 8 for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth 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 cricket 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 ...

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. Then PCB chairman Ramiz Raja had hinted at an auction based system to replace the draft for the 2023 season but a draft was retained. The

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

for the tournament was held on 15 December in

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 ...

. A total of 36 foreign players were picked alongside local players.

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 ...

were the defending champions. The tournament was to be played between 13 February to 19 March 2023, However, on 16 March 2023, PCB moved forward the final by a day to 18 March 2023 due to bad weather forecast predicted in Lahore, with 19 and 20 March set as reserve days respectively. 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 ...

, Lahore Qalandars defeated

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 ...

by a minor margin of 1 run to become the first team in the PSL to defend their title.

Squads

In November 2022, the retained player's list was announced. Squads for the tournament were finalized on 15 December with the final draft.

Venues

The Pakistan Cricket Board announced plans to hold matches in

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 ...

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

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 ...

and

during the 2023 season. Lahore and Karachi were only the venues in 2022. The

Arbab Niaz Stadium Imran Khan Cricket Stadium (formerly known as Arbab Niaz Stadium), is a cricket stadium in Peshawar, Pakistan. It is owned by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cricket Association (KPCA). The stadium is named after Imran Khan, former Pakistan cricket team capt ...

in Peshawar was declared unfit to hold any matches in the tournament. Quetta's

Bugti Stadium Bugti Stadium, formerly known as the Racecourse Ground, is a cricket ground in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan, owned by the Pakistan Cricket Board. It is located next to the Ayub National Stadium. History The first recorded match on the groun ...

was later added to the list of PSL venues but was removed shortly after due to logistical reasons. The PCB considered moving the matches in Lahore and Rawalpindi to Karachi after a dispute with the Punjab government over the cost of security arrangements but did not do so after the dispute was resolved.

Match officials

On 7 February, PCB announced the list of officials for league stage matches which included 3

Elite Panel of ICC Umpires The Elite Panel of ICC Umpires is a panel of cricket umpires appointed by the International Cricket Council to officiate in Test matches and One Day Internationals around the world. The panel was first established in April 2002 when the ICC de ...

out of 14.

Umpires

Ahsan Raza Ahsan Raza (born 29 May 1974) is a Pakistani cricket umpire and former cricketer. In November 2020, in the second Twenty20 International (T20I) between Pakistan and Zimbabwe, he officiated in his 50th T20I match as an on-field umpire, becoming ...

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 ...

* Alex Wharf *

Asif Yaqoob Asif Yaqoob (; born 11 November 1973) is a Pakistani cricket umpire. Career Yaqoob began his umpiring career in 2003. He stood in his first Twenty20 International (T20I) match, between Pakistan and Australia, on 26 October 2018. He stood in hi ...

* Faisal Afridi *

Martin Saggers Martin John Saggers (born 23 May 1972) is an English county cricket umpire and a retired English cricketer. He played international cricket for the England cricket team, including appearing in three Test matches and spent the majority of his fi ...

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 ...

* Mohammad Asif *Nasir Hussain *

Rashid Riaz Rashid Riaz (born 27 February 1976) is a Pakistani cricket umpire and former first-class cricketer. He has stood in matches in the 2015–16 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. He officiated in his first Twenty20 International (T20I) match, between Pakistan and ...

Richard Illingworth Richard Keith Illingworth (born 23 August 1963) is an English former cricketer, who is currently an umpire. The bulk of his domestic cricketing career was with Worcestershire, although he had a spell with Derbyshire, and overseas with Natal. H ...

* Ruchira Palliyaguruge * Shozab Raza * Tariq Rasheed

Referees

* Ali Naqvi *Iftikhar Ahmed * Muhammad Javed *Mohammad Anees *

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 ...

Marketing

The season's logo variant was unveiled on 26 January with the

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...

s #HBLPSL8 and #SabSitarayHamaray being used for promotion on social media; latter being the official anthem. Previously, the slogan for this season had been 'Soch Hai Apki' but was later changed.

Trophy

The trophy for this season, named Supernova, was unveiled on 9 February 2023. It was entirely made in Pakistan by Lahore-based Mahfooz Jewellers.

League stage

Format

Each team played every other team twice in the league stage of the tournament in a double round robin. Following the group stage, the top four teams qualified for the playoff stage of the tournament.

Points table

*The top 4 teams qualified for 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 ...

. * Advances to Qualifier. * Advances to Eliminator 1. Notes: * C = Champions; * R = Runner-up; * (x) = Position at the end of the tournament

Summary

League progression

Fixtures

The PCB announced the fixtures on 20 January 2023. An exhibition match was played between

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 ...

and

Quetta Gladiators Quetta Gladiators (Urdu, Balochi: ) is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 cricket franchise that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). They play most home games at the Gaddafi Stadium. The Gladiators won and became the champions in PSL ...

before the start of league at the

and was won by the Gladiators by 3 runs.

Karachi and Multan

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Lahore and Rawalpindi

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Playoffs

Qualifier

Eliminators

Eliminator 1

Eliminator 2

Final

Awards and statistics

Abbas Afridi, the leading wicket taker of the tournament, was awarded with the

Fazal Mahmood Fazal Mahmood PP, HI (18 February 1927 – 30 May 2005) was a Pakistani international cricketer. He played in 34 Test matches and took 139 wickets at a bowling average of 24.70. The first Pakistani to pass 100 wickets, he reached the landma ...

Cap, and Mohammad Rizwan, the leading runs scorer, was awarded with the

Hanif Mohammad Hanif Mohammad PP (21 December 1934 – 11 August 2016) was a Pakistani cricketer. He played for the Pakistani cricket team in 55 Test matches between the 1952–53 season and the 1969–70 season. He averaged 43.98, scoring twelve centu ...

Cap.

Most runs

* Source
ESPNcricinfo

Most wickets

* Source

End of season awards

*Source: Geo Super, CricTracker

Team of the tournament

*Source: PCB, GeoSuperTV

References

External links

League home at ESPNcricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pakistan Super League 2023 Pakistan Super League 2023 in Pakistani cricket February 2023 in Pakistan March 2023 in Pakistan

PSL PSL may refer to: Sport *Pakistan Super League, a Twenty20 cricket league *Palau Soccer League, top division association football league in Palau *Pilipinas Super League, a professional basketball league *Philippine Super Liga, a defunct profes ...