Pakistan Super League

Establishment

In September 2015, the PCB 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. The first two seasons included five teams nominally based in Pakistani cities. Pakistanis have historically constituted the majority of the players in domestic T20 competitions, but 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.

Prior to the 2017 Pakistan Super League players draft in October 2016, league chairman Najam Sethi announced that the league hoped to be able to hold the 2017 final in Lahore in Pakistan following the agreement of Punjab Government officials. In the first season of the league all matches, including the final, were held in the UAE due to security reasons. Sethi claimed that the league had signed foreign players with the condition that if their team reached the final that they would have to travel to Lahore, although this claim was rebutted by agents whose clients had agreed that they would only travel to play the final in Pakistan if the security advice prior to the final was favourable and who could not be forced to travel. An official of a PSL team said that security would need to be "extremely high" and that "cash incentives" had been offered to foreign players to agree to travel to Lahore, although no action would be taken against any player who refused to do so. In August 2016 Sethi had stated that if players were not willing to travel that teams would be able to pick from a pool of foreign players from other teams who had agreed to do so and that the PCB could organise "foolproof security" for the event. ICC task force head Giles Clarke, Zimbabwean,Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi cricket board officials and FICA officials watched the final of 2017 PSL held in the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.Clark was happy with the tight security arrangements.Foreign players who visited lahore were also happy with security arrangements.Marlon Samuels who was also part of the players who visited Lahore urges ICC to help revive cricket in Pakistan.

Expansion

The possibility of adding a sixth team to the league in 2017, possibly in Kashmir, was also under discussion but was rejected by the middle of May 2016.

Sethi announced that there would be the sixth team in 2018 PSL, few days after 2017 PSL held. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra announced the inclusion of FATA as sixth team in PSL 2018. He said PSL administration will be approached for the participation of FATA Team. Chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman also said the inclusion of sixth team from Gilgit-Baltistan in PSL 2018. The name of new city name for PSL 2018 has not finalized yet but likely to be finalized in the third quarter of 2017.

Profits

In May 2016, the PCB officially announced that the inagural season of the PSL yielded profits of $2.6 Million.

The profit for PSL 2017 is not disclosed yet but likely to be disclosed in May 2017

Format

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 league follows the rules and regulations dictated by the International Cricket Council. 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:

1. Higher number of points
2. If equal, better run rate
3. If equal, highest number of wins
4. If equal, least number of losses
5. If still equal, the results of head to head meeting

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.

Teams

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 Board began accepting tenders for franchises with a deadline for bids of 15 November.

According to a statement by the PCB, bid winners would be granted the rights to a franchise for a term of 10 years. Interested parties included the ARY Media Group, Omar Associates, Arif Habib Group, Haier, Mobilink as well as international groups including Leonine Global Sports and the Qatar Lubricants Company (QALCO).

All five franchises for the first season of the league were sold on 3 December 2015 after seven bidders presented formal proposals. The initial player draft took place on 21 and 22 December 2015. All five teams picked their players and the teams were finalised within the following month with a salary cap for each team.

Individual Awards

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 2017 Pakistan Super League season.

Team records

Source: ESPNcricinfo, Last updated: 5 March 2017

Note:

Sponsorship

The PSL's initial title sponsorship was awarded to HBL Pakistan for three years in December 2015. Sponsorship deals associated with the league, including the title sponsorship, are estimated to be worth more than $6 million.

Broadcast

Sunset + Vine were awarded rights as official broadcasters for the first three seasons of the league. PTV Sports, Ten Sports and Geo Super were awarded broadcast rights in Pakistan for the first three seasons. The value of the broadcasting deal was $15 million, with the PCB selling the global television rights to Tech Front, a United Arab Emirates' group, for the same duration. In the first season matches were streamed live on YouTube in Pakistan, on the PSL official site and via the PSL app. Pakistani viewers can catch the live stream on psl-t20.com, while global viewers on cricketgateway.com.

Advertising rights for the first three years of the league's operation were awarded to Pakistani company Blitz Advertising.