Pakistan Super League 2021 News

In order to aid in wake of Covid-19 induced losses and disruptions, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has various plans ready to boost incentives for the franchises of the Pakistan Super League starting next edition. As per an ESPNcricinfo report, the PCB is considering increasing the share of the central revenue they generate from the tournament form the next year along with fixing the US dollar rate on the franchises' annual fees. The board is also willing to offer financial assistance to the franchises to help them recover a bit of loss generated due to the Covid-19 disruptions of the last two editions. The PCB has sold the ownership rights of the six franchises till the 10th edition of the tournament slated to be played in the year 2025 but the report suggested that the new model of revenue sharing will be in place until the 20th edition to be played in the year 2035. The newly-elected chairman of the PCB, Ramiz Raja hoped that all franchisees will accept the new contractual framework so that both the PCB and they could focus on strengthening the brand value of the PSL. "Taking into the account legal and contractual framework, the PCB has offered a new financial model to the franchisees with the sole purpose of supporting and resolving their concerns. The PCB expects the franchisees to accept this offer so that we can switch our focus on strengthening the HBL PSL brand,” the PCB Chairman, Ramiz Raja said. The PSL was launched in the year 2017 when the tournament was played entirely in the UAE. The PCB since then has convinced international players about the security situations in Pakistan and has been able to host the event in Pakistan.

Faf du Plessis, who were to lead the Northern Superchargers in the first edition of the Hundred failed to recover from the concussion he suffered while playing in the Pakistan Super League and he is now heading home. He revealed his health and travelling update on his Instagram profile on August 13. “Unfortunately im on my way home as I haven't recovered as quick as I would have liked from my concussion to play some sort of part in @thehundred for the @northernsuperchargers this year. Great bunch of guys and I've really enjoyed the look and feel of this tournament.” I would like to thank the @ecb.uk.co, the @northernsuperchargers and also every single person who has gone out there way to make sure that my brain health remains the most important priority and not how fast I play cricket again. I'm really so grateful for all the support through this difficult injury and feel like I'm very close to playing again. Before the start of the tournament, it was believed that the Superchargers skipper will miss just the first three games but he could recover quickly enough to play “some sort of part” in his journey. He had injured his head after colliding with his Quetta Gladiators’ teammate Mohammad Hasnain while fielding in the game against the Peshawar Zalmi on June 13.

Multan Sultans made it to their first-ever Final in their fourth season in Pakistan Super League, having played their first in 2018. And in their very first attempt, the team managed to win the tournament and that too by a huge margin of 47 runs against four-time finalists and one-time winner Peshawar Zalmi. Shahnawaz Dahani with the ball and Sohaib Maqsood with the bat were two real finds of the tournament for the green brigade as other more experienced players like skipper Mohammad Rizwan, Sohai Tanvir, Imran Tahir and Rilee Rossouw too chipped in with their contributions. After the victory, the players and support staff couldn’t hold themselves back and fully expressed the winning feeling. In fact, the 23-year-old Dahani was the centre of attraction as the Multan bowling coach and former Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood compared him to one of Pakistan’s most lethal bowlers, but equally attractive personalities, Shoaib Akhtar. Describing Dahani at the post-match interview, Azhar said, “He is always smiling, whether he's been hit or not. The whole team lights up by his reactions. He is chirpy and always in a good mood, It's almost like we've found a new Shoaib Akhtar.” Talking about the bowling abilities of the Larkana born, Azhar said, “This is just a start for him, we'll work on his outswingers, on his inswinger. There are things that I will write down in a report and send to the Pakistan bowling coach for better management of Dahani.” The bowler who was awarded the Best Emerging Player and Best bowler award for picking up the highest wickets in the tournament (20), has been picked in the Pakistan squad for the tour of England and the West Indies. Multan skipper Rizwan was excited about the victory and credited the ‘Mighty Allah’ for providing strength to his entire team to fight it through after being at the bottom at the start of the Abu Dhabi leg. “Finals are pressure games - you can't avoid that in the final. We discussed that and brought it down to two things - it would either be the pressure of batting first or batting second,” he said about the preparation of the team ahead of this all-important game. The 29-year-old praised his bowlers and also credited the management to allow him the freedom to trust his players and play his team. “When you go for the win, you need to ignore the noise (criticism of team selection). With Maqsood we felt he wasn't getting enough of a hit and then we decided to push him up and it's paid off. And our bowlers have been fantastic throughout.” Sohaib Maqsood, who was drafted into the Pakistan team for his brilliant performances earlier in the morning as replacement of Haider Ali, after the latter was thrown out of the team for disciplinary reasons, played an amazing knock to bag Man of the Match and Man of the Series award at the tournament. The Multan born was happy with the victory and credited a good domestic season and his team management for the success. “I got a lot of confidence from the domestic season. In the PSL I hadn't established myself, but the management showed faith in me and sent me up the order. It all started falling in place particularly when I started batting No. 3, which helped turn things around,” said Maqsood. The 34-year-old, who gave up red-ball cricket to focus on his white-ball skills was thrilled by the National call up but said that would focus on his fearless cricket approach rather than changing anything. “I don't want to do anything different - if I get a chance, I'll play with the same kind of mindset and aggression,” he said. Before the presentation ceremony, the likes of Blessing Muzarabani, Tahir, Dhani and Rossouw thanked the management for all their efforts and faith shown in the team. Tahir had special words reserved for his family whom he was seeing after more than a month. “My family is here and all the celebrations, the sprinting was mostly for them. I want to tell my son that if he wants to play, he would have to play like a champion,” said the leg spinner.

“Started from the bottom, now we're here,” If anything that could describe the journey of the Multan Sultans in the Pakistan Super League 2021, it is these lines by Drake. The journey has been such that nobody gave any chance to the Mohammad Rizwan led side after the end of the first leg in Karachi. They came to Abu Dhabi being at the bottom of the table alongside Quetta Gladiators, having just two points from five games. But, now they are the champions of the Pakistan Super League beating the one time champion and four-time finalists Peshawar Zalmi in their very first attempt at the Championship. In the final, the Sultans were on top of their game in every aspect. The only thing that the Rizwan led side lost in the game was the toss, post that it was all domination from the team from Southern Punjab. With the help of a steady opening partnership of 68 by skipper Rizwana and Shan Masood, the Sultans got off to a great start and the shoulders of the Zalmis started dropping from thereon. Adding to the drudgery of the Peshawar team was dropping Sohaib Maqsood’s catch by Hazratullah Zazai when the former was at just six. Maqsood made the Zalmi pay for it big time, hitting an unbeaten 65 off 35 balls. He along with Rilee Rossouw created a storm in the Sheikh Zayed Stadium of Abu Dhabi. The two added 98 off just 44 balls and forced the Multan side to get near 200. When Rossouw got out after completing his 20 balls 50, Khushdil Shah came along and played a cameo of five balls 15 runs to get the team to 206-4. The chase of Zalmi never got going in the first half of the innings as they were struggling in the sixties with three wickets down in such a big chase. Shoaib Malik and Rivaman Powell tried to bring things under control and at one point with 70 needed in the last five overs, and the two of them at the crease, the probability of a dream comeback seemed possible for a moment. But that wasn’t going to be the case, as just after the strategic timeout Blessing Muzarabani Struck with fuller length outside off which Powell nicked to Rizwan behind the stumps. Malik’s stay post that wasn’t long either as he was caught at deep square leg by Imran Tahir off a Sohail Tanvir slower bouncer. Post that it was all formalities and Tahir made sure that those formalities were completed as quickly as possible, removing Sherfane Rutherford, Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Imran in just one over. Zalmi, however, didn’t get all our as Sameen Gul and Mohammad Irfan played out the last three overs before handing the Sultans a huge 47 run win to lift the trophy. For Sultans, Tahir was the pick of the bowlers as he ended with 3/33 in his four overs while 39-year-old Malik was the highest scorer for Zalmi with his 28 balls 48. Sohaib Maqsood who has been drafted into the Pakistan squad dramatically after disciplinary actions against Haider Ali was awarded Man of the Match as well as Man of the Series. He scored 428 runs in 12 innings throughout the tournament. His average of 47.55 and his strike rate of 156.77 was the highest among all batters from Multan Sultans Shahnawaz Dahani [Dhani] was adjudged the Best Emerging Player of the Tournament as he also ended as the highest wicket-taker to win the prestigious Fazal Mahmood cap with 20 wickets in 11 innings.

After getting suspended for the final of the HBL PSL 6, Peshawar Zalmi pacer Umaid Asif has expressed his disappointment and apologised to his teammates and the captain and coaching staff for letting them down ahead of such a big game. The duo of Haider Ali and Umaid Asif was suspended from the final as they admitted to breaching the Health and Safety Protocols that were in place for the tournament. They admitted to meeting people from outside their designated bio-secure bubble and not maintaining prescribed social distancing. “I regret and have immense remorse for my actions. Although it is no excuse, I had a momentary lapse in concentration and breached bio-bubble protocol…,” said Asif in a statement shared on his personal Twitter handle. “I’m bitterly disappointed at not only missing out on playing in the PSL final but more importantly for letting down my Peshawar Zalmi team mates, fans and all those following the PSL,” he further added. He also apologised to his team management hoping that despite the absence of two of their premier players they will manage to win the tournament. “I’m extremely sorry to every individual member of my Peshawar Zalmi management, Akram bhai, Inzamam bhai, Darren Sammy and especially my captain Wahab Riaz bhai who have supported me throughout PSL…again apologise for any negative publicity this has created,” he said “I can’t express how devastated and dejected I’m at this moment, personally for missing out on a PSL final, but I will be supporting my team mates from my room and pray that they lift the PSL trophy again,” he concluded.

Peshawar Zalmi have suffered a blow ahead of the PSL 2021 final after Umaid Asif and Haider Ali were suspended for violating the health and safety protocols. Ali has also been replaced by Sohaib Maqsood for the tours to England and West Indies. Pakistan team will be taking the flight to the UK on Friday (June 25, 2021) where they are scheduled to play three ODIs and as many T20Is. The first ODi begins on July 8 in Cardiff while the other two will be played at Lord’s and Edgbaston respectively. The second ODI takes place on July 10 while the third and final on July 13. The T20I series begins on July 16 in Nottingham. The teams will then move to Leeds for the second encounter and the last T20I will be played in Manchester on July 20. Zalmi are slated to take on Multan Sultans in the title clash on Thursday in Abu Dhabi. While Asif was among the wickets in the last couple of games but has given away runs as well. In the Eliminator 2 match against Islamabad United, he returned with figures of 2/44 in 3 overs. Batting first Islamabad posted 174/9 in the allotted 20 overs after some late surge from Hasan Ali who notched up a 16-ball 45. But Hazratullah Zazai and Jonathan Wells anchored Zalmi to the win by 8 wickets and the Peshawar team registered a place in the final. Both the batsmen struck individual half-centuries.