PSL Champions List All Season (2016-2022) – Who Will Win PSL 2023?
Pakistan Super League is unique in that each franchise has WON a minimum of a single title from season 1 to season 7. Lahore Qalandars will be the defending Champions for the PSL 8 starting in February 2023. The complete psl champions list for all seasons is as follows.
PSL 2016 Champions
In 2016, Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators were the two best-performing franchises in the tournament. It was no surprise that both reached the final of the inaugural edition of the Pakistan Super League.
Quetta Gladiators had set the score of 175 to win in 20 overs with great batting performances by Ahmed Shahzad, Kevin Peterson & Kumar Sangakarra. The score was supposed to be a good one and in a big match like the Final, there is always great pressure while chasing but Islamabad United came with an attacking mindset and Dwayne Smith scored 73 runs off 51 balls with a strike rate of 143 played the match-winning knock in Islamabad’s favor. Brad Haddin also played a scintillating knock of 61 runs with a 156 Strike Rate. The finishing touch was given by Khalid Latif by thumping three boundaries in the seven deliveries he faced to make Islamabad United the first ever to be included in the list of psl champions.
Misbah-Ul-Haq the victorious captain praised both Haddin and Smith for their amazing final knocks and felt grateful and thanked Islamabad franchise management for trusting in his leadership.
YOUR #HBLPSL WINNERS FOR 2016 ARE @IsbUnited pic.twitter.com/3hoXUhj1rD
— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) February 23, 2016
PSL 2017 Champions
In 2017, PCB made a move to get the Final played in Pakistan with a lot of talks related to security arrangements in Pakistan. Daren Sammy was the main player who was the first International star to support the decision to play the Final in Pakistan and he helped many of his Zalmi players get behind this decision. The final of PSL 2017 was played between Peshawar Zalmi & Quetta Gladiators.
Quetta Gladiators had to make a lot of changes in their squad because their main players like Kevin Peterson, Rossouw & others decided not to travel to Pakistan which ruined their whole team combination. They got Morne van Wyk, Anamul Haque, Sean Ervine & Rayad Emrit as replacement players for the Final.
Peshawar Zalmi had batted first on a spin dull wicket in Lahore and posted an average score of 148 in 20 overs with Daren Sammy scoring 28 runs off 11 with a strike rate of 254 was the only player who looked at ease on that pitch. In reply to the chase, team Quetta had no answers to the great bowling display by Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Asghar, Hassan Ali & Chris Jordan and lost all wickets for just 90 runs. Quetta lost another Big Final but this time with a heavy margin of 58 runs.
Daren Sammy lifted the beautiful PSL 2017 trophy and since then he became the heartthrob of 220 Million passionate cricket fans living in Pakistan because of his resilience as a leader and his trust in the security arrangements in Pakistan.
It was special to play in Lahore infront of such passionate ppl. @PeshawarZalmi #Champions but Cricket was the winner #MoreThanJustAGame pic.twitter.com/RgImqfzNa2
— Daren Sammy (@darensammy88) March 5, 2017
PSL 2018 Champions
In the third season of the Pakistan Super League, PCB decided to play the final three matches this time in Pakistan with the eliminator 1 & 2 in Lahore while the Big Final is to be hosted in Karachi this time around. Peshawar Zalmi who were the defending Champions reached the BIG Final stage yet again under the leadership of Daren Sammy.
This time around, it was refreshing to see more International stars agree to come and play in Pakistan with both Islamabad & Peshawar playing the final with their complete-strength team.
PSl 2018 Final was also a low average score Final where Peshawar Zalmi batted first and scored only 148 runs in their 20 overs. Apart from Chris Jordan & Liam Dawson no one looked settled on the pitch and struggled big time against the quality bowling side Islamabad. Islamabad United started the chase very well with both openers giving the greatest platform to win another title but once the openers were gone it was a struggle for the rest of the team but in the end, it was Asif Ali who helped them win another PSL title by scoring 26 runs off just 6 balls with three great sixes.
Islamabad United currently is the only franchise who are able to WIN two PSL titles under their name in psl league champions list.
TWO TIME CHAMPIONS OF #HBLPSL#UnitedWeWin #SherKiDhaar #PZvIU #PSLFinalInKarachi pic.twitter.com/kzs7W5hGRU
— Islamabad United (@IsbUnited) March 25, 2018
PSL 2019 Champions
PCB every year continued to increase the matches to Pakistan and in the fourth season they decided to host the last eight games in Pakistan but due to broadcasting issues, they scheduled all 8 games in Karachi.
It was the 4th season of PSL and many players had seen what a great feeling it is to play in front of a jammed-packed stadium instead of empty crowds in the UAE. Quetta Gladiators again reached the FINAL and this time around after a lot of convincing by the franchise management as well as PCB and other foreign starts like Sammy, Malan convinced Shane Watson, Rilee Rossouw, and Dwayne Bravo to play in Pakistan which they agreed.
Because all the matches were played in Karachi, the pitch got a bit used hence another PSL Final was a low-scoring affair. Peshawar Zalmi had batted first and scored only 138 runs in their 20 overs which Quetta Gladiators easily chased down with the solid calm batting approach from Ahmed Shahzad & Rilee Rossouw.
Sarfaraz Ahmed the captain of Quetta, became the Champion Captain in the psl champions team list and thanked Allah, fans, and security teams for the successful completion of the tournament in Karachi. Quetta has had many 2 heartbreaks before but this time around with all foreign players available they achieved the glory very easily.
Let this sink in!!!! Quetta Gladiators are Champions of PSL. Goosebumps, tears.
— Nabeel Hashmi (@iNabeelHashmi) March 17, 2019
Finally Allah ne izzat rakhi. Unbelievable feeling 🏆 pic.twitter.com/yiEKCiCC6Z
PSL 2020 Champions
PSL 2020 was the fifth season of Pakistan’s biggest cricket tournament and this was the first time where it actually felt like a festival throughout Pakistan because all the games were played within Pakistan. The tournament was hosted in four different venues which were Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi & Multan. The tournament went on very smoothly for 90% of the games but then the pandemic occurred and PCB had to postpone all the play-off stage games due to the fear of the disease spreading quickly. It was a difficult but well-supported decision by the PCB from all franchises and cricket journalists because health and safety always come first.
The tournament was postponed in March which was later scheduled in November, of the same year to play the remaining four play-off matches. Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars reached the Final and it was nothing bigger than this. The Karachi-Lahore rivalry gets the same hype as ElClásico and is often named PSLClásico by the fans.
Lahore Qalandars batted first and it was a very disappointing batting performance by them with no player scoring fifty along with poor strike rates. Openers of Lahore along with some support from Sohail Akhtar and David Wiese hardly reached the below-average score of 134. In reply to the chase, Babar Azam stood firm for Karachi and made sure they became the Champions of 2020 by scoring a match-winning knock of 63 runs with a strike rate of 128. The only disappointing thing for Karachi was the final was played without a crowd due to covid-19 protocols.
Imad Wasim, the only captain for Karachi who is able to make them Champions thanked Wasim Akram, and Dean Jones for their great support to him as a leader along with Babar Azam’s class which was enough for them to clinch the title.
Pakistan Super League 2020 champions, Karachi Kings! 🏆 #PSL2020 pic.twitter.com/BTnN0i14ZK
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) November 17, 2020
PSL 2021 Champions
PSL 6 started with a bang and every fan was very much looking forward to another Eid-like festival back home with matches being played in four to five different venues. Unfortunately, PSL 2021 was again hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and this time many franchises openly criticize PCB for not having the proper pandemic protocols in place. The event had to be stopped and postponed after match 14 as things started to get out of control. PCB moved the tournament to UAE in June and continued it from where it left off.
Luckily for Multan Sultans, the change of venues and country brought good luck for them and they made a grand comeback into the tournament by winning all the games in the UAE while in Pakistan they had lost 4 games out of five they had played which was a very poor start. The final was played between Multan Sultans and Peshawar Zalmi.
Multan Sultans batted first in the important Final and put up a huge score of 206 runs in their 20 overs. The top four of Multan all scored but the major impact was done by superb knocks by Sohaib Maqsood’s 65 runs at 185 strike rate & Rilee Rossouw’s 50 off only 21 balls at a strike rate of 238 which puts them into the driving seat a great deal. While in reply to the chase of Peshawar Zalmi Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik & Sherfane Rutherford looked threatening for the time being but no one was able to play a long innings at a powerful strike rate. Team Peshawar could only score 159 runs and lost another disappointing Final by 47 runs but this time to Multan Sultans.
Mohammad Rizwan the captain of Multan Sultans thanked Allah for putting them into the top position from rock bottom at the mid of PSL. The promotion of Sohaib Maqsood up the order paid off and he scored a match-winning 65-run knock today and hence was named the Player of the Match.
Multan Sultans win the Pakistan Super League for the first time 🏆 pic.twitter.com/79rMk3zZX5
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) June 24, 2021
PSL 2022 Champions
After last year’s mismanagement related to covid protocols, PCB took firm steps by giving contact with UK’s leading covid protocol firm which had set the bio-bubbles in Karachi and Lahore so the whole PCB 7 event can take place without any setbacks. It was an expensive but well-worth move by the PCB to safeguard the big brand name of the Pakistan Super League and to provide cricket fans a chance to see their favorite cricket stars right in front of them in stadiums. The NCOC had allowed 20% crowd attendance in the starting games which was later extended to 50% crowds after seeing no issues related to bio-bubbles. The whole tournament was played in only two venues which were Karachi and Lahore.
Multan Sultans and Lahore Qalandars reached the big final of PSL 7 and it was of no surprise because both franchises had played some mind-blowing cricket throughout the season specially Multan who lost no game prior to the Final but the superb bowling options of Lahore Qalandars helped them win their first ever PSL title which took 7 years to achieve but the end result was well worth it. Qalandars won the Final by 42 runs with Mohammad Hafeez’s brilliant display of batting along with his superb bowling. Hafeez was the player of the match as he scored 69 runs at a strike rate of 150 along with his bowling figures of 2-23. Shaheen Shah Afridi, the captain of Lahore also made sure he made the full contribution in the all-important final with the ball in hand.
WE HAVE A NEW CHAMPION 🏆
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) February 27, 2022
LAHORE QALANDARS WIN THEIR FIRST PSL TITLE! pic.twitter.com/ywmBkvfRD3
Who Will Win PSL 2023
In the T20 format, it is often very difficult to predict which team is going to win the tournament due to the shorter version of the game along with the luck factor which sometimes plays a huge role to change the fate of the game. However, by looking at the team form over the years, psl winning trends, coaching strategy, retentions, and teams on paper we believe Multan Sultans & Islamabad United are 2 teams to look for in PSL 8 and both teams may play the PSL 8 Final together.
Let us know your thoughts below who you think will win the PSL 2023 title.
