Pakistan Super League
Pakistan Super League is a professional Twenty20 cricket league, founded on 9 September 2015 with five teams and now comprises six 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 investors.
The PSL season runs between the months of February and March, with each team playing matches in double round robin format; the top four teams with the best record qualify for the playoffs and culminates in the championship game, the PSL Cup Final. The league is based in the Pakistan Cricket Board office in Lahore.
History
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 where Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari, alongside Sheikh 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 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.
Expansion
The possibility of adding a sixth team to the league in 2017, possibly in Azad Kashmir, was also under discussion, but was rejected by May 2016.Sethi announced that there would be the sixth team in next season of PSL, few days after 2017 PSL held. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra announced that the PSL administration will be approached for the participation of team FATA as the sixth team in PSL 2018. Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman, chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, also said to have the sixth team from Gilgit-Baltistan. 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.
Profits
In May 2016, the PCB officially announced that the inaugural season of the PSL yielded profits of.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, although 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:
- Higher number of points
- If equal, better run rate
- If equal, highest number of wins
- If equal, fewest losses
- If still equal, the results of head to head meeting
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 Pakistan Cricket 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 ten years. Interested parties included the ARY Group, Omar Associates, Arif Habib Group, Haier, Mobilink as well as international groups including Leonine Global Sports and the Qatar Lubricants Company.
All five franchises for the first season of the league were sold on 3 December 2015, for a total price of, after seven bidders presented formal proposals.
In April 2017, PCB invited bids for the sixth team and the deadline set for the submission of both the financial and technical proposals was 30 May and as many as 40 national and international parties expressed an interest in buying the sixth franchise.
On 1 June 2017, from five regions short-listed by PCB Multan was bought by Schön Properties for a price of per year becoming the most expensive team of the PSL. However, on 12 November 2018, its rights were terminated by PCB due to payment issues. PCB invited bids and resold the "6th team" to Ali Tareen consortium after successful bid with US$6.35 million for 7 years on 20 December 2018.
Results
Due to security reasons, the first season was played entirely in the United Arab Emirates. The inaugural champions were Islamabad United. Peshawar Zalmi were the 2017 PSL Champions, having defeated Quetta Gladiators in Lahore on 5 March 2017. Islamabad United were the 2018 PSL champions, beating Peshawar Zalmi on 25 March 2018. The current champions are Quetta Gladiators, who won the title on 17 March 2019 in Karachi.Season results
Team results
Notes:- W = Winner;
- R = Runner-up;
- SF = Semifinalist;
- DNP = Did not Participate;
- = End of league games table position;
Overview
Note:
- Tie&W and Tie&L indicates matches tied and then won or lost by "Super Over"
- The result percentage excludes no results and counts ties as full win.
Individual awards
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. HBL later renewed their sponsorship for three more years.| Title sponsor | Period | Sponsorship amount | Ref. |
 HBL | 2016-2018 | US$5 Million | |
| HBL | 2019-2021 | US$14.3 Million |
Broadcast and Digital Distributions
For the first three seasons of the league, Sunset and Vine were awarded production rights as official broadcasters, and PTV Sports, Ten Sports and Geo Super were awarded broadcast rights in Pakistan with the PCB selling the global television rights to Tech Front, a UAE group..Matches Streamed live in Pakistan and worldwide on YouTube, and on PSL Official Site and App through Cricketgateway.pk while streamed globally on Cricketgateway.com
| Territory | Years | Channels |
| 2016–2018 2016–present 2016–present | Ten Sports PTV Sports Geo Super | |
| 2017–present | Moby | |
| 2017–2019 2020–present | Channel 44 beIN | |
| 2016–present | Gazi TV | |
| 2017–2018 2017–present | Sportsnet Willow TV | |
| 2016–present | Flow TV | |
| 2019–present | Hum TV | |
| 2018–present | DSport | |
| 2017–present | StarTimes | |
| 2020–present | Astro | |
 Middle East | 2016–2018 2019–present | ARY Digital Cricketgateway.ae |
| North Africa | 2016–2018 2019–present 2019–present | OSN Sports Cricketgateway.ae Yupp TV |
| 2020-present | Sky Sport | |
| 2020-present | Vodafone Sports | |
| 2017–2018 2017–present | StarTimes SuperSport | |
| 2016–2018 2016–2018 2016–present | Ten Sports CSN Dialog TV | |
| 2016–2018 2016–2018 2016–present | Prime TV City 44 UK Geo Tez | |
| 2016–2018 2019–present | OSN Sports eLife TV | |
| 2017–2018 2017–2018 2017–present | A-Plus TV Yupp TV AAG TV | |
| 2017–2018 | SuperSport | |
| Worldwide Internet Rights | 2016–present | Cricketgateway |
| Worldwide Internet Rights | 2020–present | Cricingif |
Source:
Advertising rights for the first three years of the league's operation were awarded to the Pakistani company Blitz Advertising.