psl pakistan super league 2017

Pakistan Super League PSL 2017

PSL 2 to begin from February 9 in Dubai

The PSL Pakistan Super League 2017 is scheduled to begin on Feb 7th 2017 in UAE. The PSL Draft for the second edition of the tournament was held on October 19 and all five teams announced their squads with most teams consisting of around 20 players from Pakistan and overseas.

PSL 2017

A few of the players were retained from the previous season by teams while the others were picked afresh from the PSL Draft. There was also a transfer window in which teams like Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars exchanged players.New Players like Eoin Morgan, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine and Brendon McCullum had also agreed to getting themselves placed in the Draft and were picked up by respective teams during the Draft, while Chris Gayle was let go of by Lahore and selected by Karachi.Alex Hales got a nod as a supplementary player, as did Anton Devcich while there were many experienced and young Pakistani players who got the nod too.Misbah-ul-Haq will lead the defending champions Islamabad United yet again while Shahid Afridi handed over the captaincy of Peshawar Zalmi to Darren Sammy. Sarfaraz Ahmed will look to guide the Quetta Gladiators, while Sangakkara leads the Karachi Kings. Lahore Qalandars will be captained by Brendon McCullum.Even bigger news is coming from the PSL stable is that the final of the next edition of the Pakistan Super League will be played in Lahore, Pakistan. The Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore will host the final according to PCB chief Najam Sethi.The first ever edition of the Pakistan Super League T20 ended on February 23 with Islamabad United winning the title after defeating Quetta Gladiators in the final of the tournament.The foundation for Islamabad’s victory in the final was laid by Andre Russell’s three-wicket haul before Dwayne Smith and Brad Haddin smashed fifties to guide the side towards their chase of 175 against Quetta Gladiators.Ahmed Shehzad and Kumar Sangakkara had hit fifties of their own in the final for the Gladiators, and at one stage would have harboured thoughts for a win after piling up 174 in a pressure final.

Earlier, the Quetta Gladiators made the final by winning their only playoff match against Peshawar Zalmi, edging Peshawar out by a run. This was followed by Islamabad overcoming the Karachi Kings by nine wickets, a chase of 115 that lasted just 14.2 overs for them.Islambad were then slotted to take on the Zalmis in which they crushed their opponents yet again. Sharjeel Khan became the first centurion in the PSL T20 to steer his side to 176 for three in the 20 overs before the United saw Russell and Imran Khalid share seven wickets to bowl Peshawar out for 126.Among the five sides, Lahore Qalandars faced the bitter end of the disappointment as they failed to qualify for the final four. Despite having a strong squad with names like Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo, they could win just two matches out of the possible eight.The HBL PSL cricket league has put the cricket action from the country back on the map. Boasting of international players and a league like format, the tournament took place in three stages, which was played in Dubai and Sharjah. The teams representing five major cities – Peshawar, Quetta, Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore took part in the competition.The PSL 2017 schedule for the second edition of the tournament is our and the fans will hope the final gets played in Pakistan this time as promised. Even if it’s not possible, the tournament has made an excellent start and there will be a lot of fans waiting with bated breath for the second season.