2017 Pakistan Super League


The 2017 Pakistan Super League, was the second season of the Pakistan Super League, a franchise Twenty20 cricket league which was established by the Pakistan Cricket Board in 2016. On 19 October 2016, at the 2017 player draft, the league chairman Najam Sethi announced that the final of the 2017 tournament might be played in Lahore, Pakistan depending on the security situation. The PCB confirmed that it was their intention to play the final in Lahore in January 2017 with players being flown into and out of Pakistan over a short window either side of the final. The board planned to replace overseas players who are unwilling to travel to Pakistan with their teams in a new draft held at the end of February for the final stage of the tournament, if necessary with Pakistani players. DRS was used in play-off matches. The defending champions Islamabad United were eliminated in Eliminator.
The 2017 PSL was telecasted in more than 10 territories. Ratings were higher as compared to previous season claimed by Najam Sethi.
The final was held in Lahore on the 5th of March and saw Peshawar Zalmi defeating Quetta Gladiators by 58 runs to win the championship. Darren Sammy of Peshawar Zalmi was awarded the man of the match award. Kamran Akmal also of Peshawar Zalmi was named the player of the tournament.
The tournament also witnessed a spot-fixing controversy which was resolved on 30 August 2017.

Ceremonies

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony of the league was held in Dubai at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, on 9 February 2017. It was hosted by actor Fahad Mustafa. Defending Champions Islamabad United marched into the stadium in traditional shalwar kameez. It featured Pakistani cultural performances; and spectacular flying drummers, followed by live performance of Jamaican pop star
and singer Shaggy, then Pakistani singers Shehzad Roy and Ali Zafar performed on anthems of the league "Ballay Ballay" and "Ab Khel Jamay Ga" respectively. Over 26,000 crowd attended the colourful ceremony in the stadium. The ceremony ended with firework display.

Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony was held at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. It was hosted by Ayesha Omar and Ahmad Ali Butt. It featured live performances of Pakistani singers Ali Zafar, Faakhir Mehmood, Overload band and Ali Azmat. The crowd was sold out and spectators enjoyed the closing ceremony.

Background

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.

Player acquisition and salaries

The player draft for the 2017 season was held in Dubai on 19 October 2016. 414 players, including both Pakistani and international players, were divided into five different categories. Each franchise was allowed to pick a maximum of seven foreign players in their squads which could have a maximum of 20 members. A total of 100 players, including 34 foreigners, were picked during the draft.

Squads

Islamabad United Peshawar Zalmi Lahore Qalandars Karachi Kings Quetta Gladiators

  • Darren Sammy
  • Alex Hales
  • Dawid Malan
  • Haris Sohail
  • Hasan Ali
  • Iftikhar Ahmed
  • Imran Khan
  • Chris Jordan
  • Junaid Khan
  • Kamran Akmal
  • Khushdil Shah
  • Mohammad Asghar
  • Mohammad Hafeez
  • Eoin Morgan
  • Samit Patel
  • Marlon Samuels
  • Shahid Afridi
  • Shakib Al Hasan
  • Sohaib Maqsood
  • Tamim Iqbal
  • Wahab Riaz
  • Irfan Khan
  • Brendon McCullum
  • Azhar Ali
  • Jason Roy
  • James Franklin
  • Cameron Delport
  • Grant Elliott
  • Fakhar Zaman
  • Bilawal Bhatti
  • Usman Qadir
  • Ghulam Mudassar
  • Saif Badar
  • Mohammad Rizwan
  • Umar Akmal
  • Sunil Narine
  • Chris Green
  • Sohail Tanvir
  • Aamer Yamin
  • Zafar Gohar
  • Yasir Shah
  • Mohammad Irfan
  • Kumar Sangakkara
  • Shoaib Malik
  • Chris Gayle
  • Babar Azam
  • Shahzaib Hasan
  • Khurram Manzoor
  • Kashif Bhatti
  • Kieron Pollard
  • Ryan McLaren
  • Imad Wasim
  • Ravi Bopara
  • Mahela Jayawardene
  • Saifullah Bangash
  • Sohail Khan
  • Mohammad Amir
  • Usman Khan
  • Rahat Ali
  • Usama Mir
  • Abrar Ahmed
  • Abdul Ameer
  • Hasan Mohsin
  • Ammad Alam
  • Sarfraz Ahmed
  • Ahmed Shehzad
  • Kevin Pietersen
  • Asad Shafiq
  • Rilee Rossouw
  • Saad Nasim
  • Mohammad Nawaz
  • Anwar Ali
  • Luke Wright
  • Mahmudullah
  • Mohammad Nabi
  • Bismillah Khan
  • Mir Hamza
  • Zulfiqar Babar
  • Umar Gul
  • Thisara Perera
  • Tymal Mills
  • Nathan McCullum
  • Umar Amin
  • Noor Ali
  • Hasan Khan
  • Anamul Haque
  • Rayad Emrit
  • Elton Chigumbura
  • Morne van Wyk
  • Sean Ervine
    • Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif were both provisionally suspended under the PCB's Anti-Corruption Code as part of an ongoing investigation into an organisation's alleged attempts to corrupt the 2017 Pakistan Super League. Both batsmen have been sent home and no replacements were named. The PCB's investigation is being backed by the ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit.

    Teams

    The 2017 season of the Pakistan Super League featured five teams nominally representing major cities in Pakistan. The possibility of adding a sixth team to the league in 2017, possibly representing Kashmir, had been discussed but was rejected by the middle of May 2016.
    The teams playing in the 2017 season were the same five franchises which played in the 2016 season:
    and Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates were the venues used for all group stage matches in the tournament. In February 2017 PCB Chairman Najam Sethi announced that the final will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, while the other playoff matches were held as per the schedule in Sharjah and Dubai. Tickets were sold online for the Lahore PSL Final, confirmed by the PCB official. Also a ticket booth was set up at the Gaddafi Stadium for those who would not prefer to purchase it online.
    On 19 October 2016, at the 2017 player draft, the league chairman Najam Sethi announced that the final of the 2017 tournament might be played in Lahore, Pakistan depending on the security situation. The PCB confirmed that it was their intention to play the final in Lahore in January 2017 with players being flown into and out of Pakistan over a short window either side of the final. The board planned to replace overseas players who are unwilling to travel to Pakistan with their teams in a new draft held at the end of February for the final stage of the tournament, if necessary with Pakistani players.
    Subsequently, the final was held at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

    Promotion and media coverage

    The official anthem of PSL season II, "Ab Khel Jamay Ga" was released on 1 January 2017. It was written, composed and sung by Ali Zafar. Another anthem titled "Ballay Ballay", sung by Shehzad Roy, was released on 30 January 2017.

    Format

    Each team played each other twice in the league stage of the tournament in a double round robin format. Following the group stage, the top four teams qualified for the playoff stage of the tournament.
    The 2017 season of the PSL followed rules and regulations laid down by the International Cricket Council. In the group stage, two points were 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 would be used to determine the match winner. In the group stage teams will be ranked on the following criteria:
    1. Higher number of points
    2. If equal, higher number of wins
    3. If equal, fewest defeats
    4. If still equal, the results of head to head meetings
    5. If still equal, net run rate
    If any play-off match finished with no result, a super over would be used to determine the winner with a tied super over meaning that the team which finished higher in the league table progressing.

    Points Table

    The league stage of the competition ran from 9 February–5 March 2017. All matches were held in the United Arab Emirates.

    Summary

    League Progression

    Fixtures

    The Pakistan Super League 2017 schedule was announced on 2 November 2016. The group stage of the tournament was made up of 20 matches held over 18 days started on 9 February 2017, with each team playing every other team twice. The top four teams would then qualified for the playoff stage of the tournament, with the final being held on 5 March.
    All times are in Pakistan Standard Time.
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    Playoffs

    The playoff stage of the tournament featured the four highest placed teams from the league stage of the competition. It started on 28 February 2017 with the final played on 5 March. The winner of a qualifier match between the top two ranked teams progressed straight to the final, with the loser of that match played the winner of an eliminator match between the third and fourth ranked teams. The final took place at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. All other playoff matches were held in the United Arab Emirates.
    On 23 February Quetta Gladiators booked the first playoff place after defeating Karachi Kings. Then Islamabad United defeated Quetta Gladiators on 24 February and they also qualified, while Peshawar Zalmi qualified by defeating Quetta Gladiators on 25 February. Karachi Kings then qualified too after victory against Islamabad United on 27 February, resulting in elimination of Lahore Qalandars from the tournament.
    All times are in Pakistan Standard Time.

    Qualifier

    Eliminator 1

    Eliminator 2

    Final

    Awards and statistics

    The player of the tournament was Kamran Akmal of Peshawar Zalmi. Kami scored 353 runs winning the Hanif Mohammad award for top scorer and the Imtiaz Ahmed award for the best wicket-keeper. Sohail Khan of Karachi Kings took 16 wickets at an average of 15.00 to be the leading wicket-taker ahead of Wahab Riaz of Peshawar Zalmi with 15. Winners of the Spirit of Cricket award was Quetta Gladiators.

    Most runs