Hello and a very warm welcome to all our readers, league cricket is going on around the world alongside International cricket as well. Big Bash heading towards the end and HBL PSL will start from 27th January. We will talk about PSL 2022 in this blog.
Pakistan Super League is just becoming better and better and bigger and bigger with every season. Let's rewind our memories.
It started in 2016 in UAE and after that, the quality of cricket and the skills of players have been improved big time.
Islamabad United won the 1st ever PSL final in Dubai under the captaincy of Misbah ul Haq against Quetta Gladiators.
In 2017 Peshawar Zalmi won his 1st title of PSL against Quetta Gladiators in Lahore.
In 2018 One again it was Islamabad United who crowned the 2nd title under Misbah ul Haq in Karachi.
In 2019 finally, Quetta Gladiators turned the table in their favor and won the 1st PSL title after reaching the 3rd time in the final under the leadership of Sarfraz Ahmad.
In 2020 Covid crisis came and PSL was affected badly once it was called off then 2nd leg started without the crowd and this time we saw a new champion of PSL. It was Karachi Kings who won the title after the struggle of the last 4 years. Imad Waseem was the captain and they won against their Arch Rivals Lahore Qalandars it was the 1st time in the history of PSL that Lahore qualified for the playoffs.
In 2021 PSL started in Karachi but sooner that was hit by Covid and then they shuffled it to Abu Dhabi. It was a great turnaround for Multan Sultans, they were struggling in Karachi and were at the bottom of the table but in Abu Dhabi, they were completely different. Multan Sultans won their 1st title there against Peshawar Zalmi under the leadership of Muhammad Rizwan.
So in the 1st 4 seasons, there was the domination of 3 teams Islamabad, Quetta, and Peshawar but after that other teams also put their hands up and showed their class also. It means there is really competitive cricket because we have already seen 5 different champions in 6 editions and Lahore Qalandars is the only side that is still struggling to make their mark.
Let's talk about the strongest and weakest points of the teams ahead of PSL 2022.
you can read also Multan sultans become the champions of PSL
Multan Sultans
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| The squad of Multan Sultans |
Multan Sultans is defending champion but they have made some changes in the team and surprisingly they have dropped James Vince but still, they are having a very good batting lineup. Imran Tahir is only a genuine spinner and I think Asif Afridi will find a place as a spin-bowling all-rounder.
They are having a very tricky fast bowling attack because Shahnawaz Dhahani is still young Rumman Raees hasn't played much cricket and other options are Blessing Muzarabani and Imran Khan Sr.
Their most probable XI
1.Muhammad Rizwan
2.Shan Masood
3.Sohaib Maqsood
4.Rille Rossouw
5.Tim David
6.Khushdil Shah
7.Odean Smith
8.Asif Afridi / Anwar Ali
9.Shahnawaz Dhahani
10.Imran Khan Sr. / Abbas Afridi
11.Imran Tahir
Peshawar Zalmi
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| The squad of Peshawar Zalmi |
Peshawar Zalmi is the most consistent side and the only team to reach the playoffs across all seasons and they have played 4 finals of PSL. In this season their batting is looking good as always and their fast bowling attack is looking superb as always but the main problem is in the middle overs. Usman Qadir is the only spinner in the team. The wicket of Karachi is always batting-friendly but if there is help for spinners then it can be difficult for them. In the last season, their death bowling was also under the radar because Wahab Riaz couldn't find the partner in death. They have made some changes regarding this matter. Let's see how they go.
Their most probable XI
1.Kamran Akmal
2.Hazratullah Zazai
3.Haider Ali
4.Shoaib Malik
5.Hussain Talat
6.Sherfane Rutherford
7.Ben Cutting
8.Wahab Riaz
9.Saqib Mahmood
10.Usman Qadir
11.Amir Khan/Arshad Iqbal
Islamabad United
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| The squad of Islamabad United |
Islamabad United is the most entertaining side and the most complete side in any condition. They have covered almost every department of the game and they play one-dimensional cricket which is aggressive cricket. From top to bottom every player can contribute and can hit the ball. In the last season, their death was also under pressure and that was the reason they picked Merchant De Lange and he can also bat. They play fearless cricket and that's why they have 2 titles in the bag.
Their most probable XI
1.Alex Hales
2.Paul Stirling
3.Colin Manro
4.Shadab Khan
5.Azam Khan
6.Asif Ali
7.Faheem Ashraf
8.Hassan Ali
9.Muhammad Waseem Jr. /Zafar Gohar
10.Merchant De Lange
11.Zeeshan Zameer
Quetta Gladiators
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| The squad of Quetta Gladiators |
Quetta always has a great side in the ground but in the last 2 seasons they looked off-color and they missed their mentor, Sir Viv Richards. After Shane Watson Sarfraz couldn't handle the team well especially their bowling looked shattered. They went with the pace of Hasnain and Naseem Shah and that hurt them badly. Now they have got the most experienced players in their team like Sohail Tanveer and Shahid Afridi. So the eyes will be on them also because it looks a new side and they changed many things to get back in the groove.
Their most probable XI
1. James Vince
2.Jason Roy / Abdul Wahid Bangalzai
3. Ben Duckett
4. Sarfraz Ahmad
5. Umar Akmal
6. Iftikhar Ahmad
7. Shahid Afridi
8. Muhammad Nawaz
9. Sohail Tanveer
10.Naseem Shah / James Faulkner
11. Muhammad Hasnain
Karachi Kings
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| The squad of Karachi Kings |
Karachi is one of the most fan's favorite sides because Babar Azam is there. It has been a mixed match for them in the last couple of seasons their batting all depends on Babar Azam because he plays as an anchor and then every batsman plays around him. Death overs are the problem for them also. Muhammad Amir was a little expensive last season.
Mohammad Amir in Death-overs (17-20) in PSL 6:
Overs: 10
Runs: 107
Economy: 10.7
Wickets: 1
Average: 107
With these stats, you can look to some other options but that wasn't there and that's why they struggled. Now they have gone back to Chris Jordan to sort out this problem. Babar Azam will be the captain now for the 1st time in HBL PSL.
Karachi's probable XI
1.Babar Azam
2.Sharjeel Khan
3.Joe Clarke
4.Tom Abell / Lewis Gregory
5.Imad Waseem
6.Muhammad Nabi
7.Rohail Nazir
8.Chris Jordan
9.Muhammad Amir
10.Qasim Akram / Amir Yameen
11.Muhammad Ilyas
Lahore Qalandars
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| The squad of Lahore Qalandars |
One of the most exciting side and most fascinating sides of PSL is Lahore Qalandars. Every time they create so much hype but can't produce the results in their favor. They have qualified just once in the last 6 seasons and that time they reached the final but finished as runners-up. They play well sometimes but they play bad cricket most of the time. In the last season that was the prime example, they won 4 out of 5 games but after those things changed in Abu Dhabi they couldn't go further and were eliminated in the 1st round. Now they have the new captain Shaheen Shah Afridi, he is an aggressive bowler and they have a really good bowling attack but it all depends on their batsmen. Let's see how they go this time.
Qalanadar's most probable XI
1.Fakhar Zaman
2.Abdullah Shafique / Phill Salt
3.Zeeshan Ashraf
4.Muhammad Hafeez
5.Harry Brook / Sohail Akhtar
6.Samit Patel
7.David Wiese
8.Rashid Khan
9.Shaheen Afridi
10.Harris Rauf
11.Ahmad Daniyal
So that's it from our side hope you will enjoy PSL and keep reading us at www.cric-talk.com