KARACHI: Multan Sultans, Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi to battle for the glittering HBL PSL 2020 trophy and USD500,000 winner’s prize
Sultans to play Kings in the Qualifier, Eliminator 1 to be played between Qalandars and Zalmi
USD1million total prize money; runners-up to receive USD200,000, USD80,000 to be shared between player of the tournament, best batsman, best bowler and spirit of cricket award winner
Stats pack attached here and Urdu version of the media release attached here
Karachi, 13 November 2020: All eyes will be on Karachi’s National Stadium as the much-awaited HBL Pakistan Super League 2020 playoffs get underway Saturday afternoon with the table-toppers Multan Sultans taking on Karachi Kings in the Qualifier.
The tournament returns to action after an eight-month gap, as it was postponed on 17 March due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Until then, cricket fans, both in Pakistan and across the world, had remained glued to the riveting T20 action that saw some nail-biters with the fight for the four playoff spots going down to the wire.
The 2017 champions Peshawar Zalmi edged past defending champions Quetta Gladiators on net run-rate to sneak through to the playoffs by grabbing the fourth spot, while Islamabad United, the two-time champions, finished their campaign on the last spot on the table.
On Saturday, the winner of the Qualifier will confirm a berth in the much-anticipated final, to be played on November 17, while the losing team will await the winner of the Eliminator 1 – to be played between Qalandars and Zalmi – in the Eliminator 2, which is scheduled for Sunday evening.
The loser of the Qalandars-Zalmi game will be eliminated. All four squads in the playoffs have been rejigged with international and local stars joining the sides and all aiming to guide their franchises to glory.
Multan Sultans:
Sultans topped the table at the end of the double-league round-robin group-stage by winning six matches. While two of their matches ended in no-result due to rain, they faced losses in the other two.
Captain Shan Masood occupies the sixth spot in the list for the tournament’s highest run-getters with 253 runs at 31.62 and a strike-rate of 128.42.
Among the bowlers, Sohail Tanvir and Imran Tahir occupy the fourth and fifth spot having taken 10 wickets each at 15.30 and 18.60 respectively.
Shan is confident his team has the desired firepower to win the tournament.
Shan Masood said we are very excited to be back. We had a very good run in the group stage. The beauty of the HBL PSL has always been the playoffs as it gives everyone an equal opportunity of winning the prestigious trophy and we are really looking forward to it.
