The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) marquee event, the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2022 will begin from January 27 in Karachi, which will be the seventh edition of the T20 league, the board has announced.
On the other hand, the PSL Draft for the seventh season will be held at the High Performance Centre in Lahore on December 12, the PCB announced in a statement.
The upcoming season will be staged in two phases with the first one to be held in Karachi while the second and last phase will be held in Lahore. Each phase will consist of 15 matches each.
Following an opening ceremony, defending champions Multan Sultans will take on hosts and 2020 champions Karachi Kings at the National Stadium in Karachi, which will begin at 7pm PKT.
Later, 2019 champions Quetta Gladiators will face 2017 winners Peshawar Zalmi on the following day.
Issuing a statement, the PCB said: “In first of the six double-headers to be played in the 32-day and 34-match tournament, Multan Sultans will take on 2020 runners-up Lahore Qalandars at 2pm PKT, which will be followed by the Karachi Kings and Quetta Gladiators’ fixture that will begin at 7pm PKT on Saturday.”
“Two-time champions Islamabad will be in action on Sunday afternoon when they will lock horns with Peshawar Zalmi, with the evening match to be played between arch-rivals Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars. After Karachi, which will host 15 matches from 27 January to 7 February, action will shift to the Gaddafi Stadium where the remaining 15 league matches and the four play-offs will be played from 10-27 February,” it added.
The PCB further announced that final will be held in Lahore.
“The PCB has designed the 2022 tournament in such a way that each side will play equal number of matches in Karachi and Lahore, as well as games under natural and artificial lights,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, the board also announced that the HBL PSL Draft 2022 will be held at the High Performance Centre in Lahore on Sunday, 12 December, with the event to kick-off at 3pm.
“Each side will come to the draft with a maximum of eight player retentions from the last event. Following the finalisation of player categories, the transfer and retention window is now officially open and will close on 10 December,” it said in a statement.
“In the Platinum Category, Lahore Qalandars will have the first pick, followed by Multan Sultans, Karachi Kings, Islamabad United, Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators. Lahore Qalandars will have the first pick in the Diamond Category, followed by Peshawar Zalmi, Islamabad United, Quetta Gladiators, Karachi Kings and Multan Sultans. Lahore Qalandars will have the first pick in the Gold Category, Peshawar Zalmi will have the first pick in the Silver Category, Lahore Qalandars will have the first pick in Emerging Category and Quetta Gladiators will have the first pick in Supplementary Category,” it added.
Commenting on the upcoming season, PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja said: “I am delighted that the HBL PSL 7 schedule has been announced. This will now get the ball rolling with the teams to start planning and finalising their line-ups and the PCB increasing the pace of the operational delivery to ensure they provide quality playing facilities for the players as well as five-star experience to the fans and our valued commercial partners.”
“The HBL PSL 7 will also kick start what will be a bumper year for Pakistan cricket with the Australia men’s cricket team to play a full series in March-April with England men’s cricket side to tour Pakistan twice for white-ball and red ball cricket,” he added.
Schedule for PSL 7
{Matches from January 27 to February 7 will be played in Karachi; matches from Feb 10-27 to be played in Lahore)
27 Jan – Karachi Kings vs Multan Sultans
28 Jan – Quetta Gladiators vs Peshawar Zalmi
29 Jan – Multan Sultans vs Lahore Qalandars; Karachi Kings vs Quetta Gladiators
30 Jan – Peshawar Zalmi vs Islamabad United; Karachi Kings vs Lahore Qalandars
31 Jan – Quetta Gladiators vs Multan Sultans
1 Feb – Islamabad United vs Multan Sultans
2 Feb – Peshawar Zalmi vs Lahore Qalandars
3 Feb – Quetta Gladiators vs Islamabad United
4 Feb – Karachi Kings vs Peshawar Zalmi
5 Feb – Islamabad United vs Lahore Qalandars; Peshawar Zalmi vs Multan Sultans
6 Feb – Karachi Kings vs Islamabad United
7 Feb – Quetta Gladiators vs Lahore Qalandars
10 Feb – Multan Sultans vs Peshawar Zalmi
11 Feb – Lahore Qalandars vs Multan Sultans
12 Feb – Islamabad United vs Quetta Gladiators
13 Feb – Peshawar Zalmi vs Karachi Kings; Lahore Qalandars vs Quetta Gladiators
14 Feb – Islamabad United vs Karachi Kings
15 Feb – Peshawar Zalmi vs Quetta Gladiators
16 Feb – Multan Sultans vs Karachi Kings
17 Feb – Islamabad United vs Peshawar Zalmi
18 Feb – Multan Sultans vs Quetta Gladiators; Lahore Qalandars vs Karachi Kings
19 Feb – Lahore Qalandars vs Islamabad United
20 Feb – Quetta Gladiators vs Karachi Kings; Multan Sultans vs Islamabad United
21 Feb – Lahore Qalandars vs Peshawar Zalmi
23 Feb – Qualifier (1 vs 2)
24 Feb – Eliminator 1 (3 vs 4)
25 Feb – Eliminator 2 (Loser Qualifier 1 vs Winner Eliminator 1)
27 Feb – (Qualifier v Eliminator 2) Final