By the time this write-up appears, season three of the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) will be entering its fourth day of action with the T20 extravaganza having grown in stature since its inception only two years ago. With the induction of Multan Sultans as the sixth and the most expensive franchise that secured the winning bid at a staggering $5.2 million per annum, PSL’s popularity is gaining momentum at a breakneck pace. And if the final does come to Karachi as planned, then it would be a huge step towards ensuring the league returns to Pakistan in its entirety.
Let us not delve much into what happened at the start of Season Two when the tournament was initially thrown into turmoil with the startling revelation of Islamabad United’s Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif ‘allegedly’ being involved in shady spot-fixing business. That issue was firmly dealt with by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) by not only withdrawing the duo from participation but also initiating investigation into the sordid affair, which ultimately cost both players their playing future with bans and fines. Four other players also got hauled up in the mayhem and were subsequently handed down punishments.
Undoubtedly, Season Three offers even bigger challenges as Peshawar Zalmi defend their crown after a monumental victory at a packed Gaddafi Stadium. But the 2017 final glaringly reduced Quetta Gladiators’ aspirations to go one better than their runners-up finish to the inaugural PSL winners Islamabad United when all their first-choice foreign stars — such as Kevin Pietersen, Tymal Mills, Rilee Rossouw, Luke Wright and Nathan McCullum — refused to travel to Lahore for security reasons. This was quite understandable considering that barely three weeks prior to the March 5 title-decider a bomb blast near the Punjab assembly had resulted in 13 deaths and over 80 injuries.
With several fresh inductions and many playing musical chairs, an additional new team and venue for the final, PSL’s Season Three promises much action and excitement
Peshawar Zalmi owner Javed Afridi must be appreciated for successfully in coaxing Darren Sammy and the all other overseas players of his franchise to visit Lahore in what ultimately led to a virtual ‘no-contest’ on the playing field, with Zalmi lifting the title by a handsome margin of 58 runs.
The PCB is obviously keen to avoid such a repetition this time when the last three fixtures — two eliminator playoffs in Lahore and the final in Karachi — are played in Pakistan. A foolproof security blanket and same-day fly-in-fly-out visit to the two cities on the match day have been arranged to ensure that the qualifying teams have their full overseas contingent and are not ditched by them at the last hour.