The 2022 Kashmir Premier League (also known as 2022 KPL or, for sponsorship reasons, Kingdom Valley KPL 2022) was the second season of the Kashmir Premier League, a cricket league which was established by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in Azad Kashmir in 2021.
This season saw the expansion of the KPL from 6 teams to 7 teams. After the end of the first edition of the KPL, it was announced that there would be a seventh team added for the 2022 edition. An eighth franchise was also established for Gilgit-Baltistan but the team was removed from the tournament for unknown reasons. The KPL management held talks to hold the playoffs and final of the 2022 KPL in England but were unsuccessful. The tournament was originally scheduled to take place from 1 August to 14 August but it was rescheduled out of respect for Muharram. The draft was held on 21 July 2022. Rawalakot Hawks were the defending champions until they were knocked out in the group stage.
Franchises
TeamOwnerPlaceFoundedCaptainCoach Bagh Stallions Tauqir Sultan Awan Bagh, played all matches in Muzaffarabad 2021 Umar Amin Abdul Rehman Jammu Janbaz Ghulam Hussain Shahid Jammu, played all matches in Muzaffarabad 2022 Faheem Ashraf Riaz Afridi Kotli Lions Kotli, played all matches in Muzaffarabad 2021 Khurram Manzoor Mushtaq Ahmed Mirpur Royals Abdul Wajid Mirpur, played all matches in Muzaffarabad 2021 Shoaib Malik Abdul Razzaq Muzaffarabad Tigers Arshad Khan Tanoli Muzaffarabad 2021 Mohammad Hafeez Misbah-ul-Haq Overseas Warriors Zeeshan Altaf Lohya Kashmiri diaspora, played all matches in Muzaffarabad 2021 Asad Shafiq Azam Khan Rawalakot Hawks Jan Wali ShaheenRawalakot, played all matches in Muzaffarabad2021 Ahmed Shehzad Arshad Khan
Squads
Bagh StallionsJammu JanbazKotli LionsMirpur RoyalsMuzaffarabad TigersOverseas WarriorsRawalakot Hawks Umar Amin (c) Rumman Raees (vc) Kamran Akmal Sohaib Maqsood Aamer Yamin Kashif Bhatti Mohammad Imran Aamer Jamal Mohammad Sarwar Sharoon Siraj Maaz Khan Sajjad Ali Amir Shehzad Arsalan Arif Awais Akram Danyal Allah Ditta Hasan Raza Abdul Bangalzai Ali Majid Faheem Ashraf (c) Sharjeel Khan Shahid Afridi Sahibzada Farhan Umar Akmal Akif Javed Usama Mir Ahmed Khan Imran Khan Shahzaib Umar Siddiq Hamza Shah Afridi Samiullah Afridi Faisal Altaf Mehran Mumtaz Mohammad Shehzad Najam Naseer Kiyani Naqash Basharat Akash Afridi Azaz Afridi Khurram Manzoor (c) Danish Aziz Sarfaraz Ahmed Ahsan Ali Khurram Shahzad Irfanullah Shah Khalid Usman Hanif Azad Hasan Mohsin Hassan Khan Mushtaq Kalhoro Imran Shah Irfan Ali Qasmi Basit Ali Mujtaba Ghayas Nadeem Khalil Naveed Malik Zayyan Khan Abdul Rehman Omair Yousuf Mirwais Khan Shoaib Malik (c) Haris Sohail Imad Wasim Ali Imran Salman Irshad Abrar Ahmed Muhammad Akhlaq Hamza Arshad Kashif Ali Zaid Alam Zubair Lodhi Ali Razzaq Hassan Nawaz Faizan Saleem Shadab Majeed Shan Khan Sufyan Moqeem Umar Hayat Raza-ul-Mustafa Yasir Shah Izhar-ul-Haq Arsalan Mehzood Mohammad Hafeez (c) Iftikhar Ahmed Sohail Tanvir Anwar Ali Haseebullah Khan Zeeshan Ashraf Arshad Iqbal Ahmed Safi Abdullah Mir Hamza Salman Fayyaz Taimoor Sultan Aaqib Liaquat Amir Khan Aqib Ilyas Inzamam-ul-Haq Osama Fazil Saad Bin Zafar Usman Maroof Ahmed Daniyal Ameer Hamza Asad Shafiq (c) Azam Khan Kamran Ghulam Mohammad Imran Sohail Khan Saif Badar Umaid Asif Adil Amin Ali Shafiq Bilal Asif Muhammad Shehzad Khawaja Mohammad Umer Zeeshan Farhan Shafiq Hanan Ahmed Malik Nisar Hashim Ali Saad Asif Sameer Khan Shayan Raza Nosherwan Ibrahim Ahmed Shehzad (c) Mohammad Amir Hussain Talat Asif Afridi Zaman Khan Amad Butt Bismillah Khan Ammad Alam Faisal Akram Musadiq Ahmed Zeeshan Malik Ihsanullah Saeedullah
Raja Farhan Khan
Babar Khaliq Khawaja Muhammad Bilal Rohaan Qadri Rohail Nazir Sohail Akhtar Sameen Gul
Marketing The 2022 KPL was promoted on social media using the hashtag #KheloAazadiSe, similar to its previous edition. Shahid Afridi was signed as brand ambassador for the 2022 KPL and the official singers were Sahir Ali Bagga and Aima Baig.
Anthem
The official anthem of the 2022 KPL, “Khelo Aazadi Se” was released on 29 July 2022 and it was sung by Sahir Ali Bagga and Aima Baig.
Media personnels The KPL announced the media personnels on Twitter on 12 August 2022.
Commentary Panel
Aamir Sohail Daryll Cullinan HD Ackerman Marina Iqbal Nick Compton Waqar Younis
Presenters
Hijab Zahid Sikander Bakht
Venue The whole tournament took place in Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir.
MuzaffarabadMuzaffarabad Cricket StadiumCapacity: 10,000
Umpires
Aleem Dar Ahsan Raza Asif Yaqoob Rashid Riaz Faisal Afridi Shozab Raza Waleed Yaqub Imtiaz Iqbal Imran Javed Saqib Khan Ghaffar Kazmi Nasir Hussain Sajid Afridi Aaley Haider Mohammad Asif Zameer Haider Qaiser Waheed Aftab Gillani Ahmed Shahab Majid Hussain
League stage
Points table
Summary Bagh StallionsJammu JanbazKotli LionsMirpur RoyalsMuzaffarabad TigersOverseas WarriorsRawalakot Hawks Bagh Stallions Jammu Janbaz Kotli Lions Mirpur Royals Muzaffarabad Tigers Overseas Warriors Rawalakot Hawks
League progression
Fixtures The schedule for the tournament was announced on 1 August 2022.
Playoffs
Preliminary
Qualifier
Eliminator 1
Eliminator 2
Final
Statistics
Most runs Player Team Matches Runs High scoreSharjeel KhanJammu Janbaz527389Hassan NawazMirpur Royals624168Asad ShafiqOverseas Warriors5221112Shoaib MalikMirpur Royals618248Ahsan AliKotli Lions516853 Source: Cricinfo
Most wickets Player Team Matches Wickets Best bowlingSohail KhanOverseas Warriors593/14Arshad IqbalMuzaffarabad Tigers593/17Rumman RaeesBagh Stallions583/11Abrar AhmedMirpur Royals572/19Shadab MajeedMirpur Royals572/13 Source: Cricinfo
Awards
Individual awards Name Team Award Shoaib Malik Mirpur Royals Player of the Tournament Sharjeel Khan Jammu Janbaz Best Batsman of the tournament Abrar Ahmed Mirpur Royals Best Bowler of the tournament Azam Khan Overseas Warriors Best Wicket-keeper of the tournament Hasan Mohsin Kotli Lions Best Fielder of the tournament Hassan Nawaz Mirpur Royals Emerging Player of the tournament Shadab Majeed Mirpur Royals Best Kashmiri Player of the tournament
Dream Team PlayersSharjeel Khan Ahmed Shehzad Hassan Nawaz Asad Shafiq Shoaib Malik (c) Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk) Imad Wasim Ali Majid Shadab Majeed Arshad Iqbal Sohail Khan Rumman Raees (12th man)
Controversies Four franchises of the KPL (Bagh Stallions, Mirpur Royals, Muzaffarabad Tigers and Rawalakot Hawks) wrote a letter to the PCB, requesting that the PCB withhold the NOC for the 2022 KPL. They cited the tournament management's inefficiency to handle all of the matters properly. The main concerns were that an audit report was not provided for the first season and a league committee was not formed despite this being included in their agreement. The PCB also said that they would issue a NOC if certain conditions were met. The PCB later issued an NOC after the KPL provided all the requested documents. A league committee was also formed on 7 July 2022.
In August 2022, Nasir Yusuf, one of the co-owners of Kotli Lions, filed a petition in the Sindh High Court that Faisal Nadeem and Khalid Zia, the other co-owners of Kotli Lions, had sidelined him from the team. Yusuf's lawyer said that Nadeem and Zia had overtaken the team and had not contacted Yusuf. They said that Kotli Lions should be barred from participating in the tournament without Yusuf's permission. Faisal Nadeem, Khalid Zia, President of the KPL, Arif Malik, CEO of the KPL, Chaudhry Shahzad Akhtar and vice-president of the KPL, Wasim Akram were all issued notices for 15 August from the court.
During the 2022 KPL, the KPL terminated Kotli Lions’ management after they weren't able to pay outstanding payments. Kotli Lions’ head coach Saeed Azad left the team and was replaced by Mushtaq Ahmed. The KPL management temporarily took over Kotli Lions. The KPL also terminated the Overseas Warriors’ management after they were unable to pay their players. Zeeshan Altaf Lohya was later given ownership of Overseas Warriors.
In January 2023, the KPL management sent a legal notice to Kingdom Valley, sponsors of the 2022 KPL, for not paying the agreed amounts to the KPL. The KPL management claimed that Kingdom Valley still had to pay 137 million. The KPL also claimed that the KPL still had to pay players 90 million which they could only pay after receiving payments from sponsors. The owner of Kingdom Valley, Ghulam Hussain Shahid, claimed that the KPL had begged him to sponsor the tournament and had asked him to pay 40 million in advance and to pay the rest whenever he wanted. He also claimed that he had to pay all government taxes while the KPL paid none. In May 2023, Dawn reported that a number of umpires in the 2022 KPL had still not received their payments. A KPL spokesperson said that these payments had not been made due to huge losses incurred from the tournament but would be cleared soon.
Criticism During the 2022 KPL, many of the league matches and all of the playoff matches were abandoned due to rain. Ghulam Hussain Shahid, the owner of Jammu Janbaz, criticised the KPL management and he said that the weather should have been considered prior to setting the dates of the tournament. Shahid said that the rain ruined the business end of the tournament and that the tournament should have taken place in Rawalpindi or Lahore as the stadiums there have proper infrastructure and the weather there would have been more suitable to play cricket. He said that he would work with the KPL management next year to improve the tournament.
Notes
References
External links
League Records 2022