PCB have announced that the PSL 2022 will be held during January and February for various reasons including broadcasting issues and the clash with IPL.
The Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2022 is all set to be moved ahead from its usual window to a January-February window. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) made an announcement on Saturday following a meeting with all the six franchises of the league. The 2022 PSL is slotted in for early January, running up until late February.
After the successful completion of HBL PSL 6, the Pakistan Cricket Board and HBL Pakistan Super League franchisees agreed on Friday that the seventh edition of the HBL PSL will be held in January and February next year.
said the official PCB statement.
The PCB will go ahead with this window despite a clash with Australia’s BBL. PSL 2022 is expected to be split into two venues with Karachi and Lahore hosting 17 matches each. The board didn’t have any other option as they needed to avoid any more clashes.
The PSL is usually hosted during the February-March window but Pakistan are expecting to host Australia during this period in 2022. The PCB had to work on the alternatives but with the Indian Premier League happening in April-May, postponing the PSL would mean a direct clash and certain broadcasting issues. PSL would also lose out on several overseas players if it clashed with the IPL.
The Pakistan board will have to deal with the weather issues in the January-February window. The Punjab province of Pakistan usually has foggy weather at the start of the year. To counter this, PCB will host the first leg of the tournament in Karachi and then move to Lahore when the conditions there would be favourable.
The 2021 edition of the PSL was held in its regular window but was suspended midway due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The tournament was then moved to the UAE in June, where Multan Sultans claimed the championship. The IPL was also postponed amidst Covid-19 pandemic in India and the second leg is set to be played in the UAE in September and October.
