The wait for Peshawar Zalmi’s fans is over as the franchise announced to reveal the playing kit for the much-awaited seventh edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), starting January 27.
The trailer featured Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal among other players of the franchise.
Zalmi announced their squad after the PSL player drafts which took place in Lahore in December. Earlier, Akmal said that he would not take part in the league after he was demoted in silver category by Zalmi but later the wicket-keeper batter agreed to represent his franchise.
The seventh edition of the tournament is set to be played from January 27 while the final will be played on February 27 in Gaddafi Stadium Lahore.
The first match will be staged in National Stadium Karachi (NSK) where defending champion Multan Sultans will face former champs Karachi Kings.
Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has said that he asked pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi to not assume the role of a captain for a few years, but the fast-bowler did not pay heed to the cricket great’s advice.
Shahid Afridi, speaking during a programme on Samaa TV, said: “I had advised Shaheen to wait for a year or two before accepting captaincy so that he can focus more on his bowling. But since he is also an Afridi, he didn’t listen to me.”
“Having said that, I’m happy that he has decided to accept this responsibility and I hope that he proves me wrong,” the former skipper said.
Shaheen, during the same show, said he would attempt to do well for his team and also noted that he had experienced players on his side, who would help him during his role as the captain.
“I will try to do well for my side and maintain a good environment. I have players like [Mohammad Hafeez], Fakhar [Zaman], and Rashid [khan], who have the experience of captaincy, in the team which will help me in the leadership department,” the pacer said.
The PSL’s latest edition will be played in Karachi from January 27 to February 7 and in Lahore from February 10-27.
The first match will be staged under the lights of the National Stadium Karachi, where Karachi Kings and Multan Sultans will go head-to-head.
Pakistan cricket team’s power hitter Fakhar Zaman teased speedster Haris Rauf after pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi was appointed as captain of Lahore Qalandars in the seventh edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Taking to Twitter, the batter congratulated Shaheen and wrote: “Many congratulations Shaheen Afridi long way to go super star.”
He also warned Rauf, saying: “Haris Rauf ab koi ghalti na karna match ma. (Haris Rauf don’t make any mistake in the match from now onwards.)”
kuch ni kehta Mujhay full yakeen hai apnay skipper pr. Best wishes and Best of luck buddy ❤️ https://t.co/5lDztgRMq1
The franchise made the announcement in a press conference at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore on Monday. Afridi has replaced Sohail Akhtar, who was the captain of the team since 2018.
Several people from the cricket fraternity congratulated the 21-year-old cricketer. Hassan Ali also took to Twitter to congratulate his “partner”.
Matches from January 27- February 7 will be played at the National Stadium, Karachi, whereas the remaining fixtures will take place at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore with the final set to take place on February 27.
Pakistan’s young pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi will be the captain of Lahore Qalandars in Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) seventh edition.
The franchise made the announcement in a press conference at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore.
“Thank you Lahore Qalandars, this is not just a team, it’s a family. I thank them for placing their trust in me for this role,” said Shaheen.
“I will try to ensure that the team shows good performances on the field,” he added.
The speedster is the highest wicket-taker for the Qalandars, with 50 wickets in 37 matches, after having joined the franchise in 2018.
Afridi has replaced Sohail Akhtar, who was the captain of the team since 2018.
Aqib Javed, the Director Cricket Operations and head coach of Qalandars, also heaped praise on Afridi and hoped that the left-armer will take the team to new heights.
“We are very happy to appoint him as captain of Lahore Qalandars and looking forward to see his wonders both with ball and his leadership skills,” Javed said. “He has been with us since 2018 and this is the right time to provide him the opportunity to lead the Lahore Qalandars’ young outfit.”
Matches from January 27- February 7 will be played at the National Stadium, Karachi, whereas the remaining fixtures will take place at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore with the final set to take place on February 27.
After Kamran Akmal announced that he would not play in the 2022 Pakistan Super League (PSL), Namibian cricketer Gerhard Erasmus and Dutch player Maxwell O’Dowd took to Twitter to express their PSL ambitions.
Kamran Akmal has decided not to play in PSL 2022 after being picked in the draft in the lowest category of players by his old team Peshawar Zalmi. The 39-year-old was moved down from the Diamond category to the Gold category by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). But he was eventually the last pick for Peshawar from the Silver category. Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, the wicketkeeper-batter called it a “humiliation” and revealed he would not play in the tournament. ESPNCricinfo shared his quote on Twitter to which Namibian cricket captain Gerhard Erasmus replied that he would love to play in the PSL for free.
Meanwhile, Netherlands cricketer Maxwell O’Dowd also retweeted the original post and expressed his desire to play in the tournament next year. He wrote, “Up for a swap!? I’ll gladly play!”
On Monday, Akmal had said that it was also “an embarrassment”.
“If it has to end like this, so be it, but I am not going to play with such humiliation,” he said.
“This is an embarrassment. You don’t treat a player like this. With all the runs I have scored in the league, I deserve better,” he said in the interview.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja has confirmed Pakistan Super League (PSL) for women cricketers.
In an interview to international media, Raja said that Pakistan does not have any system for women’s cricket, we do not have any schools or colleges for it.
While talking about women cricket, Chairman PCB said that this kind of cricket will be the first in Asia because women cricket is also an integral aspect of Pakistani cricket.
Referring to the difficulties faced by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (AFG) in the interview, Raja said that cricket in Afghanistan is currently facing difficulties but like the cricket boards of other countries, PCB also stands by Afghanistan.
Earlier in a video posted by PCB, Raja hinted at the possibility of organising a women’s Pakistan Super League in the near-future. Ramiz was speaking after ECB CEO Tom Harrison visited Pakistan last month to try and repair relations following the recriminations of England pulling out of a two-match T20I series in October.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja and the franchises’ owners had a heated argument during a meeting recently to discuss about the upcoming Pakistan Super League (PSL) season seven, reported Samaa.
The seventh edition of the league is all set to begin in mid-January next year, with drafts of the league expected to take place in the second week of December.
The chairman had a heated exchange with the franchises owners, where Raja called them ‘intruders’.
“PSL is our home and you guys are intruders,” a source inside the board quoted the PCB chairman. “You have destroyed windows and doors of our house.”
Quetta Gladiators owner Nadeem Omer replied that PSL is because of the franchises. “We are the investors of the league,” he said. “We have six successful seasons of the league and it is our home.”
The PCB chairman asked players’ accusation and management committee member Imran Ahmed Khan that why renowned T20 cricketers like Australia’s Maxwell and other don’t play PSL.
“We have invited them many times, but they refuse to play in Pakistan,” he replied.
The board and the franchises owners disagreed over the salary cap set by the body for the upcoming edition of the league. Ramiz had asked the franchises to increase the salary cap to $1.2 million from $0.95 million.
However, the franchises after a detailed argument with the PCB chief managed to keep the salary cap at $0.95 million for the PSL7.
When, on the last ball of the 18th over, Asif Ali refused to take a single, rather than adding a run to Pakistan’s score with the required run rate almost touching the 12-run mark, it was obvious that he was confident enough in his abilities to take his team over the line. Or so it seemed. Two nights before, his quickfire cameo had helped Pakistan cruise to victory in a grudge match against New Zealand. Against Afghanistan, he picked up from where he had left off against New Zealand and pulled it off with aplomb to ensure that Pakistan’s record in this tournament remains unsullied.
Heretofore, Asif’s selection in the World Cup squad drew a massive outcry. Many were of the view that he lacked the tools to translate his domestic exploits to the international stage and gratuitously touted him as a tulla, laparoo and fraudiya even though he had shown glimpses of his hard-hitting prowess multiple times for his PSL side. An average of 16 and strike rate below 125 – Asif’s sorry set of batting stats in T20Is prior to the tournament – are without a doubt dismal and not remotely redolent of someone who can thrive at the highest level. Steadfastly determined to prove that he is not a flash in the pan, Asif navigated the choppy waters and chose the biggest stage to rehabilitate himself.
In both the matches, Asif strode out to the middle in unnerving and high-pressure situations. When he walked out to bat against New Zealand in the 15th over, Pakistan was teetering at 87 for 5 in pursuit of 135 and the required run-rate had shot past nine an over. After kicking off his World Cup campaign with a four-off Trent Boult over the third man region, he took a liking to Tim Southee and whacked him for back-to-back sixes before pulling Trent Boult for a maximum and scoring a brace off him to clinch Pakistan’s second win in the tournament.
Against Afghanistan, when he came to bat, his side was 122 for 4 and the required run rate had crept up to more than eight with 26 runs required from the last three overs. Asif, however, only needed seven balls to get the job done. After opening his account with a single off Naveen-ul-Haq, he mercilessly dispatched seamer Karim Janat for four majestic maximums in an over to maintain Pakistan’s perfect record in the tournament. Fittingly, it was his bat from which the winning runs flowed in both the games.
To put into context how good Asif’s six-hitting has been and how hard sixes are to come by in this tournament, take a look at this stat: Asif took 19 deliveries for these seven sixes. On the other hand, Indian batsmen took 250 balls for seven sixes, New Zealand batsmen took 240 balls for seven sixes while West Indian batsmen took 147 balls to hit seven sixes.
More crucially, none of the seven sixes Asif struck against Afghanistan or New Zealand were mishits or mis-timed slogs. His pyrotechnics featured meaty blows over long-off, midwicket, extra cover and wide long-on — an indicator of his expansive hitting arc.
Although Pakistan has got world number one and world number 4 T20I batters at the top of the order, they need someone who can put the finishing touches and up the ante down the order. At the biggest stage, Asif has advertised his credentials, repaid the faith of those who had faith in him, and made a telling statement that Pakistan have found the right man in him to do that job.
Quetta Gladiators owner Nadeem Omar on Tuesday said that the previous Pakistan team Captain Shahid Afridi disclosed to him that he would join his Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise for the seventh period of the tournament.
“Shahid Afridi has also remained a part of the Galle Gladiators (a team which Omar owns as well) in the Lankan Premier League,” the franchise owner told Geo News.
Omar said former Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed is the incumbent captain, but if he were to voluntarily step down, “we can appoint Afridi in his place”.
“In technique, Sarfaraz is number one,” Omar added.
Quetta Gladiators’ dream of winning a second PSL title was snuffed out last month after they crashed out of the tournament after the Multan Sultans defeated them.
The Sarfaraz-led side did not perform well in PSL 6, winning only two of the 10 matches they played in the tournament — finishing at the bottom of the points table.
Positioned at top of the points table after five wins in six matches, Lahore Qalandars seemed strong frontrunners to clinch the elusive PSL trophy. At one stage, it even appeared that the sixth time might finally be the charm for them. Even Aqib Javed, Qalandars’ head coach, went a step further and billed Qalandars as the favourites to win the tournament in an interview with Cricket Pakistan.
Much to the chagrin of their fans, Qalandars squandered the impressive start and it all went downhill for them from there onwards. In the next four matches, they suffered four losses, which saw them getting stormed out of the playoffs for the fifth time in six editions.
This column attempts to shed light on and assess what went wrong for Qalandars this time around
1. Misfiring top order
Irrespective of whether a team is batting first or second, the top order holds the onus to provide a solid foundation. While Qalandars’ top 3 batsmen fared decently during the home games, they could not get going in the Abu Dhabi leg of the tournament. Before the tournament had to be moved from Pakistan to Abu Dhabi, Qalandars had played four games where their top 3 batsmen scored a total of 356 runs averaging 89 runs per game. In the Abu Dhabi leg of the tournament, Qalandars’ top 3 could muster a meager 289 across six innings averaging just over 48 runs per game.
2. Decisions at the toss
It cannot be denied that toss plays a crucial role in the outcome of a match. In the Pakistan leg of the tournament, Qalandars registered three wins in four games with all of the wins coming when Qalandars opted to bowl first after winning the toss. In the match against Multan Sultans where they batted first, they ended up losing by seven wickets, which indicates that chasing is not their strong suit. However, with the change in conditions from Pakistan to Abu Dhabi, Qalandars’ batsmen found even chasing par scores an uphill task. In the three consecutive losses against Islamabad United, Quetta Gladiators, and Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars batted second. Inexplicably, in their last league game against Multan Sultans where a win would have ensured Qalandars a spot in the playoffs, skipper Sohail Akhtar opted to chase again. The move backfired again as Qalandars were bundled out for 89 in reply to Sultan’s 169.
3. Shoddy death bowling
While Shaheen and Faulkner regularly provided good starts with the new ball, Qalandar’s death bowling was not up to the mark in the Abu Dhabi leg of the tournament. In overs 16-20 in losses against Islamabad, Quetta, Karachi, and Multan, Qalandars conceded 36 (9 runs per over), 38 (9.5 runs per over), 44 (11 runs per over), and 38 (9.5 runs per over) respectively. While it is their batting that is the main headache, Qalandars need to make sure that their bowlers continue their good impact from the powerplay and middle overs into the death overs heading into the next edition. Every cloud goes the saying, has a silver lining. Similarly, despite not being able to advance into the playoffs, Qalandars can take some positives particularly from the individual performances of the quartet of Rashid Khan, Tim David, James Faulkner, and Shaheen Afridi who gave a good account of themselves. Not being able to make it into the playoffs for five times in six editions despite having eminent T20 players in the ranks cries out for sweeping changes on multiple fronts and Qalandars need to ensure that they make these sweeping changes in their system before the seventh edition kicks off if they want the seventh time to be a charm for them.
