Statistics from one of the highest-scoring T20 competitions in recent memory 。
The beginning and conclusion of the season are the same.
Lahore Qalandars’ thrilling one-run victory over Multan Sultans marked the beginning of the eighth season of the Pakistan Super League. Similar results occurred in the championship match, in which the Qalandars defeated the Sultans by one run. In both games, Zaman Khan delivered the 20th over and had to hold off 15 runs in Multan and 13 in Lahore.
In the first game of the season, only five runs were scored in the first four balls of the final over Before Khushdil Shah’s four-ball on the final shot, another four when they needed six. In the championship game, only five runs arrived on the first four balls once more before Khushdil hit a boundary on the fifth. He was run out while trying to tie the score on the final play.
Epic reversal by Qalandars
After four seasons of the PSL, the Qalandars never advanced past the basement of the standings and only managed to win up to three games. The Qalandars experienced a change in fortunes in 2020 when they reached the playoffs for the first time and came in second. Due to the net run rate, they could not place among the best four in 2021. Except for Qalandars, all five franchises had won the Pakistan Super League championship at least once by the edition’s conclusion.
Since Shaheen Shah Afridi was named captain of the Qalandars in 2022 and guided them to their first championship that year, things have changed for the team. In 2023, the Qalandars repeated their triumph by beating the Sultans in the championship game twice in quick succession. As a result, they became just the second club, after Islamabad United, to win the Pakistan Super League championship more than once and the first team to defend their title successfully. Shaheen also made history in the PSL by becoming the first skipper to double as champion.
Run-fests in Rawalpindi
This season’s PSL featured 11 matches at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, and nearly everyone set a new mark. The venue’s large scoring capacity made any total challenging to defend; targets of 240 runs or more were chased twice in three days. Before the chaotic week in Rawalpindi, there had only been three such pursuits in almost 12,000 T20 games. The same week, the Sultans and Quetta Gladiators combined for 515 runs at the site, a T20 cricket world record.
262 for 3 and 253 for 8 were the highest two totals in league annals during that game. The ground’s run rate during the Pakistan Super League was 10.28, easily the best for a venue during a T20 competition, surpassing Edgbaston’s 9.17 run rate during the 2018 T20 Blast. In seven of the 11 games played in Pindi, the team batting first scored 200 runs or more, and five times the team pursuing the ball did as well. The 12 totals of 200 or more runs surpass the eight totals for Multan Cricket Stadium throughout 14 games in the National T20 Cup in 2020 as the most for any site in a T20 competition.
Highest-scoring T20 competition
The tournament’s run rate reached 9.2, the highest for any T20 event with more than 20 games, thanks partly to Rawalpindi’s high-scoring matches. In the 34 games of The Hundred Men’s Competition in 2022, 8.99 was the previous best. While Rawalpindi’s 11 games had an average run rate of 10.28, the other three venues, which held 23 games, had an average run rate of 8.67.
Seven different centuries were made throughout the competition, including five in Rawalpindi, which is by far the most in one PSL season. In actuality, there were only 13 hundred scored throughout the prior seven editions, with an edition recording at most three. In addition, this tournament surpassed the previous In the 2021 edition, 440 sixes and 1012 fours was struck by hitting 498 sixes and 1094 fours in a PSL season.
Shaheen Shah Afridi is an all-arounder.
Before the PSL 2023, Shaheen Shah Afridi had only scored 20 runs or more once in his T20 campaign. He did, however, surpass his best T20 score twice during this tournament: once against Peshawar Zalmi in the league phase (52) and again against the Sultans in the championship match (an unbeaten 44 off 15 balls). In both of those contests, Shaheen also secured a four-wicket haul. Only one other player—Brad Hodge for Lancashire in the Twenty20 Cup in 2005—had twice taken four wickets and scored more than 40 runs in the same T20 competition.
Before Shaheen, there had only been two PSL players to record 40+ runs and four or more wicket doubles: Shadab Khan (52 and 4 for 20 in 2022) and Ravi Bopara (71* and 6 for 16 in 2016). Only five players have scored 40 or more runs and taken four or more wickets in a T20 final, and Shaheen’s 44* and 4-wicket total against the Sultans was one of them. None of the last four performances were made while a franchise team was leading the team.
Ihsanullah and Abbas Afridi leave their imprint.
Abbas Afridi and Ihsanullah, the Sultans’ young pacers, stuck out with the ball in a competition where scoring runs appeared simple. Abbas ended with 23 wickets, which made him the tournament’s leading wicket-taker. He also claimed three wickets in a row during the 515-run match. With over nine wickets allowed per above, Ihsanullah ended with 22 gates and a 7.59 economy rate.
The 20-year-old was crowned the competition winner, making him the first PSL specialist bowler to receive this honor. Only one bowler—Hasan Ali for Peshawar Zalmi in 2019—took more wickets in a PSL season than Abbas Afridi (23) and Ihsanullah (22) in 2023.
