The 2022 Pakistan Super League (branded as HBL PSL 7) was the seventh edition of the Pakistan Super League, a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The tournament was held entirely in Pakistan from 27 January to 27 February 2022, with matches played at the National Stadium in Karachi and the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Six teams participated in a double round robin format followed by playoffs, with all matches conducted under strict COVID-19 protocols.
Lahore Qalandars won their maiden PSL title by defeating defending champions Multan Sultans by 42 runs in the final at Lahore. Fakhar Zaman (Lahore Qalandars) was the tournament's leading run-scorer with 588 runs, while Shaheen Afridi (captain of Lahore Qalandars) took the most wickets with 20. Mohammad Rizwan (captain of Multan Sultans) was named Player of the Tournament for his 546 runs.
HBL Pakistan retained the title sponsorship, while broadcast rights were awarded to PTV Sports and A Sports, with Daraz as the livestreaming partner. The tournament saw Karachi Kings finish last with only one win in ten matches, while Shahid Afridi retired mid-season due to injury in what was meant to be his farewell season.
Squads
The players' draft took place on 12 December 2021, while a replacement draft took place on 8 January 2022.
Islamabad UnitedKarachi KingsLahore QalandarsMultan SultansPeshawar ZalmiQuetta Gladiators Shadab Khan (c) Asif Ali (vc) Azam Khan Hasan Ali Faheem Ashraf Alex Hales Mohammad Wasim Paul Stirling Colin Munro Marchant de Lange Muhammad Akhlaq
Danish Aziz Zafar Gohar Mubasir Khan Zeeshan Zameer Rahmanullah Gurbaz Athar Mahmood Mohammad Huraira Muhammad Musa Zahir Khan Waqas Maqsood Liam Dawson Will Jacks Zahid Mahmood Nasir Nawaz Babar Azam (c) Imad Wasim (vc) Mohammad Amir Joe Clarke Aamer Yamin Mohammad Nabi Sharjeel Khan Mohammad Ilyas Chris Jordan Lewis Gregory Umaid Asif
Rohail Nazir Mohammad Imran Faisal Akram Qasim Akram Talha Ahsan
Mohammad Taha Sahibzada Farhan Jordan Thompson Ian Cockbain Tom Lammonby Usman Shinwari Mir Hamza Shaheen Afridi (c) Mohammad Hafeez (vc) Sohail Akhtar Haris Rauf Rashid Khan David Wiese Ahmed Daniyal Zeeshan Ashraf Fakhar Zaman Abdullah Shafique Phil Salt Harry Brook Kamran Ghulam Dean Foxcroft Zaman Khan Maaz Khan Samit Patel Syed Faridoun Ben Dunk Mohammad Imran Akif Javed Matty Potts Fawad Ahmed Mohammad Rizwan (c) Shan Masood (vc) Shahnawaz Dahani Sohaib Maqsood Imran Tahir Khushdil Shah Rilee Rossouw Tim David
Rumman Raees Asif Afridi Anwar Ali
Imran Khan Abbas Afridi Aamer Azmat Blessing Muzarabani Ihsanullah Johnson Charles
David Willey Rizwan Hussain Wahab Riaz (c) Shoaib Malik (vc) Tom Kohler-Cadmore Sherfane Rutherford Saqib Mahmood Liam Livingstone Haider Ali Hussain Talat Hazratullah Zazai Usman Qadir Salman Irshad Arshad Iqbal Sameen Gul Kamran Akmal Sirajuddin Khalid Usman
Ben Cutting Mohammad Haris Mohammad Umar Matt Parkinson Pat Brown Sohail Khan Arish Ali Khan Imam-ul-Haq Amad Butt Yasir Khan Benny Howell Ali Majid Tayyab Tahir Sarfaraz Ahmed (c) Mohammad Nawaz (vc)
James Vince Iftikhar Ahmed
Naseem Shah Jason Roy
Umar Akmal Sohail Tanvir Ben Duckett Khurram Shahzad
Abdul Bangalzai Ashir Qureshi Noor Ahmad Ahsan Ali Luke Wood Will Smeed Shimron Hetmyer Ali Imran Ghulam Mudassar Dan Lawrence Hasan Khan Mohammad Irfan Muhammad Shehzad
Shahid Afridi had stated PSL 2022 would be his farewell season but on 13 February, he withdrew mid-season due to injury. On 19 February, James Faulkner was banned by the PCB due to inappropriate behavior and Faulkner resigned from the league.
Venues On 24 July 2021, PCB announced that the seventh season of PSL would be held in January and February 2022, with all matches taking place in Pakistan. The National Stadium, Karachi, would host 15 matches, while the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, would host 19 matches including the playoffs.
On 30 December 2021, National Command and Operation Center announced that only fully vaccinated people would be allowed to gather at the stadiums, after potentially lifting the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan. Ticket sales started from 11 January 2022.
On 19 January 2022, NCOC banned entry for kids under the age of 12, as they were not eligible for vaccination yet, and announced that only a 25 percent crowd be allowed in the Karachi phase. On 7 February, it was announced that a 50 percent crowd would be allowed in the Lahore phase initially, and then the full crowd including children would be allowed from 16 February.
Karachi LahoreNational StadiumGaddafi StadiumCapacity: 32,000(8000 allowed)Capacity: 27,000Matches: 15Matches: 19
COVID-19 protocols On 5 January, it was reported that all matches would be played as per the schedule under strict standard operating procedures, though the officials were worried about a surge in the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, as they neither wanted to shift the league to UAE, nor wanted to postpone due to the packed international schedule of the Pakistan cricket team.
Therefore, a pool of about 19 local players was reserved in isolation; these could be used in replacement in case of any emergency, such as if more than eight players out of 22 from any team tested COVID-19 positive. If the whole league was struck, then the winner would have been announced on playing conditions instead.
The PCB regulated three distinct bubbles with different protocols. The main bubble had all the teams, staff, and officials. Each franchise was not allowed to meet within the hotel premises. The two other bubbles were set at a separate hotel, comprising the production crew and ground staff respectively. The bubbles were also not allowed to interact, and every individual was to follow health and safety guidelines. Any violation might result in fines or expulsion from the league.
On 2 February, PCB suspended umpire Faisal Afridi from the next five matches due to breaching the bubble, and he was fined 50% of his fees from the next match.
Match officials On 17 January, PCB announced the list of officials for league stage matches; this included three Elite Panel of ICC Umpires out of 12, and two Elite Panel of ICC Referees out of five, while the others were from PCB's Elite Panels.
Umpires
Faisal Afridi Aleem Dar Michael Gough Nasir Hussain Richard Illingworth Imtiaz Iqbal Imran Javed Ahsan Raza Shozab Raza Rashid Riaz Asif Yaqoob Waleed Yaqub
Referees
Iftikhar Ahmed Muhammad Javed Ranjan Madugalle Roshan Mahanama Ali Naqvi
Marketing The season's logo variant was unveiled on 6 January, with the hashtag #HBLPSL7 also being used on social media.
Broadcast rights Since the previous deals concluded in 2021 after a three-year run, HBL renewed the title sponsorship rights for four more years with a 55% increase from the previous deal. PCB signed a new two-year broadcast deal on 10 January 2022 with a consortium of Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) and ARY Digital Network; their bid was 50% more than the previous deal. Daraz signed for the livestreaming rights on 22 January; they won the bid on 26 December with a 175% increase.
In response to the broadcast rights, Aitzaz Ahsan told that Lahore High Court dismissed the petitions filed by Geo TV; one against PCB's bidding process and the other against PTV-ARY joint venture. Ten Sports also broadcast this season after a gap of three years.
Anthem and curtain raiser
PCB announced a two-year partnership with TikTok on 21 January. The anthem titled "Agay Dekh", sung by Atif Aslam and Aima Baig, was released on 24 January. This season featured a low-scale curtain raiser in Karachi on 27 January.
Media personnel§
PCB revealed the names of media personnel on 22 January; they presented in both English and Urdu.
Curtain closer The curtain closer took place on 27 February, where the trophy was revealed by Red Bull drift driver Abdo Feghali, and Hadiya Hashmi performed "Qaumi Taranah".
League stage
Format Each team played every other team twice in the league stage of the tournament in a double round robin. Following the group stage, the top four teams qualified for the playoff stage of the tournament.
A warm-up match was played between Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars on 24 January 2022, in which Lahore Qalandars defeated Karachi Kings by 26 runs.
Points table
Summary
League progression
Fixtures The PCB confirmed the fixtures for the tournament on 3 December 2021.
Karachi
Lahore
Summary
Week 1 The defending champions Multan Sultans got off to a winning start in game one, beating Karachi by 7 wickets. Peshawar also got off to a winning start in game two, as Hussain Talat's 52 help them beat Quetta by 5 wickets. Khushdil Shah hit four boundaries in the final over of game three as the Sultans beat the Qalandars by 5 wickets. On the same day, Naseem Shah took 5 wickets to help Quetta to an 8 wicket win over Karachi. The next day Islamabad started their tournament with a 9 wicket win over Peshawar. This was largely down to Alex Hales, who scored an unbeaten 82 in the victory. Fakhar Zaman scored the first century of the season in game six, helping the Lahore Qalandars to a 6 wicket win over Karachi. In game seven, Multan were looking to continue their winning start against Quetta. They did this with a half century from Shan Masood propelling them to a 6 run win. Shadab Khan's 91 was in vain in game eight, as Multan beat Islamabad by 20 runs. In game nine, Fakhar Zaman scored 66 to help Lahore to a 29 run win over Peshawar.
Week 2 Shadab Khan led from the front in game ten, he took 5 wickets as Islamabad beat Quetta by 43 runs. Shoaib Malik gave Peshawar their second win of the season in game eleven. He scored 52 as Peshawar defeated Quetta by 9 runs. The next day, Zaman Khan bowled an economical last over, conceding four as Lahore beat Islamabad by 8 runs. On the same day, Tim David scored the second fastest half century in PSL history, as Multan beat Peshawar by 57 runs. Match 14 saw another loss for the Karachi Kings, this time by 42 runs to Islamabad United. In the last game of the Karachi leg, Jason Roy scored the highest score of the tournament. He scored 116 as Quetta chased down 204 to beat Lahore by 7 wickets.
Week 3 The Lahore leg started with another win for the Multan Sultans, this time by 42 runs over Peshawar, which later meant they qualified for the play-offs. Multan's unbeaten run came to an end the next day, as Lahore led by Fakhar Zaman's 60, inflicted a 52 run loss on them. Sarfaraz Ahmed led from the front in game eighteen, he scored an unbeaten half century to steer Quetta to a 5 wicket win over Islamabad. Hazratullah Zazai scored 52 in game nineteen to help Peshawar to a 55 run win over Karachi. On the same day, Kamran Ghulam scored 55 to help Lahore to an 8 wicket win over Quetta. Karachi Kings were eliminated as a result of game twenty one. Waqas Maqsood took 2 wickets in the final over and ran out Chris Jordan to give Islamabad United a 1 run win. Will Smeed was out on 99 in game twenty two, as Peshawar beat Quetta by 24 runs. The next day, Mohammad Rizwan scored 76 to give Multan a 7 wicket win and hand Karachi their eighth consecutive loss.
Week 4