The 2024 Pakistan Super League (referred to as HBL PSL 9 for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth 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 ...

. 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 as 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 league, it was played between six teams in a

double round robin A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

and

page playoff system The Page playoff system is a playoff format. It is used in top level competitions in softball, curling, and the Indian Premier League, Pakistan Super League, and Bangladesh Premier League cricket tournaments, and is used widely in lower level comp ...

. The season took place across four cities in Pakistan from 17 February to 18 March 2024. The

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 ...

, the two times defending champions, were eliminated in the group stage with last position. In the final,

Islamabad United Islamabad United () is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team is based in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, and was formed in 2015 to compete in the first ...

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 2 wickets, becoming first team to win the third title. A Sports was the official broadcaster for the season.

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 ...

and Usama Mir respectively achieved the awards for most runs and most wickets, while Shadab Khan was entitled Player of the Tournament.

Background

As the

2024 Pakistani general election General elections, originally scheduled to be held in 2023, were held in Pakistan on 8 February 2024 to elect the members of the List of members of the 16th National Assembly of Pakistan, 16th National Assembly of Pakistan, National Assembly. The ...

and

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

1445 AH were approaching, the Pakistan Cricket Board was concerned about the tournament. While they were planning to introduce two more teams into the league, they wanted to shift the tournament to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. However, the franchise owners opposed these plans citing the financial reasons. There were proposals for 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 ...

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 ...

to host the matches but these did not succeed due to security issues. On 6 February 2024, Mohsin Raza Naqvi was elected as the PCB chairman, who also took the responsibility to supervise the preparations for the tournament.

Squads

The squads were finalized with the draft in Lahore on 13 December 2023, six days after the franchises announced their retained players. A supplementary and replacement draft took place on 29 January 2024.

Venues

The PCB announced the venues and fixtures on 12 January 2024. The tournament took place across four cities;

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

Match officials

On 12 February 2024, the PCB announced the list of officials for league stage matches which included 4 members of

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 ...

Umpires

* Abdul Moqeet * Ahsan Raza *

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 * Faisal Afridi * Chris Gaffaney * Imran Jawed *

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 * Richard Illingworth * Ruchira Palliyaguruge * Shozab Raza * Tariq Rasheed

Referees

* Ali Naqvi * 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 ...

Marketing

Title anthem

The season's logo variant was revealed on 8 December 2023 with the nomenclature as HBL PSL 9, or

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 ...

#HBLPSL9, because HBL Pakistan has been its titular sponsor since the league's first season. The title anthem "Khul Ke Khel" features

Ali Zafar Ali Zafar (; born 18 May 1980) is a Pakistani singer-songwriter, actor, model, producer, screenwriter and painter. He started out on Pakistani television before becoming a popular musician, later also established a career in Bollywood and h ...

and

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 ...

. Opening ceremony was held at Gaddafi stadium on 17 February.

Trophy

The season's trophy, named Orion, was unveiled on 13 February 2024 at Polo Ground,

Jilani Park Jilani Park (formerly known as Race Course Park) is located in the city of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. It is situated on the Jail Road in front of the Services Hospital. It is known for its floral exhibitions and artificial waterf ...

, Lahore. It was made by Lahore-based Mahfooz Jewellers.

Broadcast and media

Since previous rights concluded after a two-year run, a public merit-based tender for the broadcast and streaming rights was opened on 9 January 2024 for the next two years.

ARY Digital Network ARY Digital Network () is a subsidiary of the ARY Group. The ARY group of companies is a Dubai-based holding company founded by a Pakistani businessman, Haji Abdul Razzak Yaqoob (ARY). The network has a video on demand streaming service called ...

renewed the broadcast rights with a 45 percent increased bid, and Walee Technologies won the streaming rights with a 113 percent increased bid. While PCB revealed a list of global broadcasters on 16 February, this is the first season which

PTV Sports PTV Sports HD is a 24-hour state-owned sports channel operated by the Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV). PTV Sports was founded as a sports division of the PTV in the 1970s. It was licensed as a stand-alone sports channel in January 2012. ...

would not broadcast due to not winning the tender. Ramiz Raja returned this year among seven commentators from Pakistan, and Michael Clarke debuted among eight international commentators. Zainab Abbas and Erin Holland presented the season.

Cancer awareness

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 and 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 were observed on 5 and 12 March respectively, with the stadiums themed with the pink ribbon and golden ribbon respectively.

League stage

Format

Each team played every other team twice in a double round robin format, with the top four teams in the points table advancing to the playoffs.

Points table

Summary

League progression

Fixtures

The PCB announced the fixtures on 12 January 2024.

Lahore and Multan

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

Karachi and Rawalpindi

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

Playoffs

Qualifier

----

Eliminators

Eliminator 1

----

Eliminator 2

----

Final

Awards and statistics

Most runs

* Source
ESPNcricinfo

Most wickets

* Source

End of season awards

The winner and the runner-up teams were awarded with

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

and crore respectively. Babar Azam and Usama Mir were presented with the Hanif Mohammad and

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 ...

caps respectively with a complete installation of 6kW solar system for each. While Shadab Khan received

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...

for being Player of the Tournament, the other awards included lakh cash prizes.

Team of the tournament

The team of the tournament was announced soon afterwards, with Shadab Khan as the captain and Mohammad Rizwan as the 12th player.

Controversies

Pro-Palestine remarks

Since KFC Pakistan was announced as a snack partner for the tournament on 17 February, people started criticizing the PCB, and hashtag #BoycottPSL became a social trending topic due to the original KFC's parent company

Yum! Brands Yum! Brands, Inc. (sometimes called simply Yum!) is an American multinational fast food corporation. It is a spin-off of PepsiCo, after they acquired KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. PepsiCo divested the brands in 1997, and these consolidated as ...

' affiliation with Pro-Israeli stances during the Gaza war and genocide. Afterwards, the spectators also complained that they were barred to carry the Pro-Palestinian banners in the stadium.

Arrests of fans

In another incident, fans were arrested for chanting slogans in support of

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 ...

during the matches. This was notable because Imran Khan, a former cricketer, former

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, and a prominent political leader, was in jail at that time, and referring to him was prohibited on Pakistani television and media.

DRS error

Hawk-Eye Hawk-Eye is a computer vision system used to visually track the trajectory of a ball and display a profile of its statistically most likely path as a moving image. It is used in more than 20 major sports, including cricket, tennis, Gaelic foo ...

, the technology used for the

Decision Review System The Decision Review System (DRS), formerly known as the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS), is a technology-based system used in cricket to assist the match officials in their decision-making. On-field umpires may choose to consult with the t ...

(DRS) in cricket, made a human error during the match between Quetta Gladiators and Islamabad United. Inaccurate ball tracking data resulted in incorrect results, causing frustration among players and fans alike.

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 2024 Pakistan Super League 2024 in Pakistani cricket February 2024 in Pakistan March 2024 in Pakistan