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-based franchise teams. Instead of operating as an association of independently owned teams, the league is a single entity in which each franchise is owned and controlled by the investors.
Each team plays the group stage matches in a double round robin format and the top four teams with the most points qualify for the playoffs, culminating in the final.
There have been nine seasons of the league. Islamabad United are the most successful team, winning the title three times. Lahore Qalandars are the only team to successfully defend its title, after winning in the 2023 season.
In September 2015, the Pakistan Cricket Board officially announced the launch of the PSL. Former Pakistani national team captains Wasim Akram and Rameez Raja signed up to promote the PSL and become brand ambassadors of the league for three years. After several years of planning and two previous failed attempts, the league officially began on 4 February 2016 in the United Arab Emirates Sports minister Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, inaugurated the opening ceremony. The first two seasons included five teams based on the capital cities of Pakistan's provinces and the Federal capital. In its first season the PSL had a higher percentage of international players. The league uses a draft system for player recruitment similar to that used in many North American professional sports leagues and as opposed to the auction system used in some other T20 leagues.
The PSL's official logo was launched on 20 September 2015 in a ceremony in Lahore, and was revealed by 3Di.The ceremony was attended by current and retired cricketers, as well as Pakistani celebrities.
The commercial rights to the initial franchises were sold for US$93 million for a span of 10 years in December 2015. The market value of PSL in 2017 was up to US$300 million according to Arif Habib, and has grown significantly in the years since.
The possibility of adding a sixth team to the league in 2017, possibly in Azad Kashmir was discussed, but rejected in May 2016. It was announced that there would be the sixth team in the next season of PSL, a few days after the end of the 2017 PSL. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra also announced that the PSL administration would be approached for the participation of a sixth team in the 2018 PSL. Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman, chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, also said to have the sixth team from Gilgit-Baltistan. The PCB short-listed five names for sixth team: Faisalabad, FATA, Hyderabad, Dera Murad Jamali and Multan.
The final name of the sixth team for PSL 2018 season was announced on 1 June 2017; Multan Sultans; owned by Schön Properties at $5.2 million annually. On 10 November 2018, PCB terminated franchise agreements with Schön Properties, resulting in a new owner being introduced. New owners decided to continue with the same name (Multan Sultans) for the franchise.
In May 2016, the PCB announced that the inaugural season of the PSL had yielded profits of US$2.6 million. In the 2022 edition, which was held entirely in Pakistan, PCB chairman Ramiz Raja reported a 71 percent increase in the PSL's profit; each franchise received Rs. 900 million (US$3.1 million) in revenue before the season had started. The 2023 edition recorded revenue of Over Rs. 5 Billion. The revenue was accumulated through various sources, including broadcasting rights, title sponsorship, gate money, and other related rights.
The PSL is played in a double round-robin format. Every team plays each other twice and the top four advance to the Playoffs. The playoffs use the Page playoff system, like the Indian Premier League.
The league follows the rules and regulations dictated by the International Cricket Council. However, it introduced DRS system in T20s which was later emulated by International Cricket Council as well. In the group stage, two points are awarded for a win, one for a no-result and none for a loss. In the event of tied scores after both teams have faced their quota of overs, a super over is used to determine the match winner. In the group stage teams are ranked on the following criteria:
In any play-off match in which there is no result, a super over is used to determine the winner. If the super over is not possible or the result of the over is a tie, the team which finished in the highest league position at the end of the regular season is deemed the winner of the match.
PSL has taken place in February and March of each year. The only exception was the interruption due to COVID-19. The PSL has taken place prior to Indian Premier League. In 2025, the PSL and the IPL will overlap.
According to a PCB press release, around 20 parties showed an interest in buying franchises for the league before the first season. On 18 October 2015 the Pakistan Cricket Board began accepting tenders for franchises with a deadline for bids of 15 November. Bid winners were granted the rights to a franchise for ten years.
All five franchises for the first season of the league were sold on 3 December 2015, for a total price of US$93 million, after seven bidders presented formal proposals.
In April 2017, the PCB invited bids for a sixth team. As many as 40 national and international parties expressed an interest in buying the sixth franchise and on 1 June the rights to the Multan franchise was bought by Schön Properties for a price of US$5.2 million a year, the most expensive franchise rights in the league. In November 2018, however, the rights were terminated by the PCB due to issues with payments. The rights were resold to a consortium led by Ali Tareen for US$6.35 million.
The first season of the PSL was played entirely in the United Arab Emirates due to security reasons. The inaugural champions were Islamabad United, who defeated Quetta Gladiators in the final. Peshawar Zalmi were the 2017 PSL champions, beating Quetta Gladiators in Lahore on 5 March 2017. Islamabad United were the 2018 PSL champions, beating defending champions Peshawar Zalmi on 25 March 2018. Quetta Gladiators defeated Peshawar Zalmi to win their first title on 17 March 2019 in Karachi, in 2020 Karachi Kings took the trophy home. Multan Sultans, who won their first title defeating Peshawar Zalmi on 24 June 2021 in Abu Dhabi. Lahore Qalandars won their first title on 27 February 2022, against reigning champions Multan Sultan. Lahore Qalandars again defeated Multan Sultans with a minor margin of 1 run to win their consecutive 2nd title of the tournament in its 8th edition on 18 March 2023. Islamabad United became first team to win three title on 18 March 2024 when they defeated Multan Sultans by 2 wickets. It was Multan's fourth consecutive final and third consecutive runner up finish. Misbah-ul-Haq is most successful captain of the League.
Teams are ranked by the number of titles won, in case of a tie, the team with more runner-up appearances is ranked higher and then by alphabetical order.
On 19 February 2020, the first version of trophy for the league was unveiled by squash player Jahangir Khan alongside then PCB chairman Ehsan Mani at National Stadium, Karachi. The 65 centimetre long trophy weighing eight kilograms has a crescent and star with multi colored strips of enamel and was used in all events from the 2020 PSL to the 2022 PSL, with every year's winning team name engraved on it.
The previous trophy, named Supernova, was unveiled on 9 February 2023. This trophy has been in use since the 2023 edition of PSL. The trophy was entirely made in Pakistan by Lahore-based Mahfooz Jewellers.
The newest trophy was unveiled on 14 March 2025, called "Luminara" It was unveiled through a 3 minute video posted by the PSL channel.
The Hanif Mohammad award and a green cap are awarded to the leading run-scorer. It is an ongoing competition with the leading run-scorer wearing the cap throughout the tournament until the final game, with the eventual winner keeping the cap and receiving the award for the season. The Fazal Mahmood award and a maroon cap are awarded to the leading wicket-taker in the same way whilst the Imtiaz Ahmed award is awarded to the best wicket-keeper. All three awards were introduced in the second PSL season.
The PSL's initial title sponsorship was awarded to HBL Pakistan for 3 years in December 2015. Sponsorship deals associated with the league including the title sponsorship, are estimated to be worth more than $6 million. HBL later renewed their sponsorship for three more years. In 2021, PCB announced that HBL retained the title sponsorship of the PSL for 4 more years until 2025.
The league signed a broadcast production deal with UK–based company Sunset and Vine for the first three seasons of the competition. Domestically TV broadcast rights were sold to PTV Sports and Ten Sports for the same period, with digital broadcast rights sold to YouTube in Pakistan for the first season. The digital rights were subsequently sold cricketgateway.
For the period from 2019 to 2021, broadcast rights were sold to Blitz Advertising. Domestic TV rights for the same period were acquired by PTV Sports and Geo Network with cricketgateway retaining the digital rights.
From 2021 to 2025 broadcast rights were sold to TransGroup International with PTV Sports, A Sports and Ten Sports having the domestic broadcast rights until 2023. A Sports and Walee Technologies acquired these rights for the 2024–2025 seasons along with the digital streaming rights which had been sold to Daraz for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
The HBL PSL Hamaray Heroes campaign was introduced in 2020 season. The initiative rewarded prominent Pakistanis like squash player Farhan Mehboob, founder of ACF Animal Rescue Ayesha Chundrigar, mountaineer Ali Sadpara, and professional eSports player Arslan Ash. A total of 32 HBL PSL Hamaray Heroes Awards were handed out during the 2020 season.
Since 2019, the league has reserved a day for breast cancer awareness, with a pink ribbon theme. A day has also been set aside to raise awareness of childhood cancer with a gold ribbon.