Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021 – Statistical Preview of the season

The sixth season of Pakistan Super League will commence from 20th February, with the inaugural match to be played in National Stadium, Karachi. This will be the second season to be held entirely in Pakistan.

Six teams will be battling out for the Trophy in the month-long tournament which will end on 22nd March. The draft process of season six took place on 10th January 2021 after which all the players of the teams were finalized. From this season, PSL will have a dedicated window in ICC Future Tours Programme.

Let’s look at important stats and numbers before the start of PSL 2021 :

Tournament History

2 – Among the 5 seasons held so far, Islamabad United has won the title twice, the most by any team. They won the trophy in 2016 and 2018. Other champions include Peshawar Zalmi, Quetta Gladiators and Karachi Kings winning the trophy one time each. Quetta Gladiators have been part of most finals (3) in the league history so far.

Batting Records

1537 – Wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal holds the record for scoring most runs in PSL history. He had hit 1537 runs in 56 matches with an average of 29 and strike rate of 138.34. Babar Azam needs 22 more runs to surpass Akmal in this regard.

3 –  Kamran Akmal is also at the top position among the players scoring most centuries with 3 hundreds to his name in the tournament.

81 – Australian batsman Shane Watson hit most sixes (81) in the league. Watson had announced his retirement last year after playing IPL 2020 for Chennai Super Kings. Kamran Akmal will surpass Watson in the most sixes record if he is successful in hitting 5 more maximums in the tournament.

127* – Colin Ingram has played the biggest innings in the PSL history. He smashed 127 runs off 59 balls with the help of 12 fours and 8 sixes against Quetta Gladiators in the 2019 season while playing for Karachi Kings. 

473 – Pakistan’s limited over captain Babar Azam holds the record for scoring the most runs (473) in a single season. He will be looking to get to bigger numbers in the upcoming season as well.

Bowling Records

76 – Peshawar Zalmi’s skipper Wahab Riaz has picked up most wickets (76) in the league till now. He has taken these wickets at an impressive average of 18.71 and an economy of 7.01. Hasan Ali who will be playing for Islamabad United this season is at the second spot with 59 wickets. He was part of Peshawar Zalmi for the first five seasons but had requested the franchise to release him at the start of the year.

25 – The record for picking up most wickets in a single season belongs to Hasan Ali who took 25 wickets in 2019. He will be raring to perform well for his new team as well.

Other Records

30 – Former Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed has won most matches (30) as captain in the league history. He will be leading Quetta Gladiators for the sixth consecutive season this time. 

44 – Kamran Akmal holds the record of effecting most dismissals (44) as a wicketkeeper. Sarfaraz Ahmed with 35 dismissals and Mohammad Rizwan with 31 dismissals are behind him.     

238 – The record for the highest Team total posted in an innings is held by Islamabad United. They scored 238/3 in 20 overs against Lahore Qalandars in the 2019 season.