How Many Teams are Participating in PSL

Pakistan Super League (PSL) is regarded as one of the best franchise-based T20 competitions in the world. It was founded by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in 2015 and its first edition took place in 2016. The opening season of PSL had 5 teams with the tournament expanding to six teams in 2017. Defending champions Lahore Qalandars and Islamabad United are the most successful sides to feature in the tournament with a couple of titles each to their name.

Let’s have a look at how many teams are participating in PSL 2024. The 2024 PSL season will also have the six teams with each team playing every other team twice with the top 4 teams on the points table to move in the qualifiers. 

1. Lahore Qalandars

Two-time winners and current champions Lahore Qalandars have lately been the best team of the PSL becoming the first side to win back-to-back titles. They won the 2022 PSL under the leadership of Shaheen Shah Afridi who became the youngest captain to win a franchise-based T20 league. They repeated the victorious feat by defending the title in PSL 2023.
Lahore Qalandars was formed in 2016 and is owned by Kausar Rana Resources Private Limited which acquired the Lahore franchise in 2015 for USD 25.1 million for 10 years. Lahore Qalandars is the third most expensive team in the PSL. The Qalandars were the bottom-ranked team in the first four seasons of PSL but finished as runner-ups in 2020 before winning two championships in 2022 and 2023.

Lahore Qalandars current squad is led by left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi with Namibian allrounder David Wiese serving as the vice-captain. Former Pakistan fast bowler Aaqib Javed is their head coach. With Shaheen and Wiese, the team will have international talents like Rassie van der Dussen, Sikandar Raza, Dan Lawrence, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Shai Hope, Rashid Khan, Haris Rauf, etc. in action for the 2024 PSL season.

2. Islamabad United

The 2-time champion side was the winner of the inaugural PSL and is owned by Leonine Global Sports. With allrounder Shadab Khan as the captain, the team will be coached by Mike Hesson. Barring the 2020 season, the team has made to the playoffs in every single edition successfully winning the trophy in 2016 and 2018.

The team has signed Shamyl Hussain, Matthew Forde, Imad Wasim, Qasim Akram, Salman Ali Agha, Shahab Khan, Jordan Cox, Naseem Shah, Hunain Shah and Ubaid Shah for the 2024 season which gets the squad a good mix of youth and experience with international stars such as Tymal Mills, Rumman Raees, Alex Hales, Colin Munro, Azam Khan, Tom Curran, Faheem Ashraf already in the team.

The team’s top run scorers in PSL, Asif Ali (1130) and Luke Ronchi (1020) won’t be available for them in 2024 as Asif will be seen playing for Peshawar Zalmi and Ronchi having retired in 2020 which leaves Colin Munro (996) as the leading run scorer for the team. Captain Shadab Khan is leading the wicket-taking charts with 77 wickets for Islamabad in 71 innings.

3. Peshawar Zalmi

The Peshawar-based PSL team is owned by Javed Afridi and has been part of the tournament since its inception. The team is currently coached by Daren Sammy who was the Zalmi captain when the side won their first and only PSL trophy in 2017. The team is captained by modern-time great Babar Azam and finished in the third spot in the playoffs.

The team has boosted their arsenal for the 2024 edition with the signings of Asif Ali, Dan Mousley, Mehran Mumtaz, Noor Ahmad, Arif Yaqoob, Lungi Ngidi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mohammad Zeeshan and Umair Afridi. The signings of international stars such as Ngidi, Naveen and Noor will help the team go one notch up in the upcoming season mixing with the likes of Azam, Rovman Powell, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Haris, Aamer Jamal, Khurram Shahzad among others.

Among current players, Babar Azam has scored the most runs for this franchise with 522 runs in 2023 when he was signed by Zalmi whereas Salman Irshad has taken 21 wickets, the most amongst the current Zalmi set-up.

4. Karachi Kings

The second most expensive franchise in PSL history, Karachi Kings is owned by ARY Media Group with the Pakistani media giant acquiring the team for 10 years shelling out USD 26 million. In the 2024 season, the team will be led by Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood with former West Indies player Phil Simmons serving as the head coach. Ravi Bopara has been appointed as the batting coach with himself being a successful allrounder in the tournament.

The 2024 signings include newly appointed captain Masood, Mohammad Nawaz, Anwar Ali, Kieron Pollard, Arafat Minhas, Jamie Overton, Daniel Sams, Saad Baig, Tim Seifert, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir Khan and Sirajuddin. It is a new look Karachi side and has a good mix of youth with some experienced T20 giants such as Pollard, Sams, Overton, Hasan and Nawaz in the side.

Karachi Kings made it to the playoffs in every season barring 2022 and 2023 with 2020 their best season where they won the PSL 5.

41-year-old Shoaib Malik is the leading run-scorer from the current lot for the side with Mir Hamza’s 9 wickets the most. The team’s all-time top run-getter is Babar Azam with 2398 runs and Mohammad Amir’s 63 wickets is the all-time record for the side.

5. Quetta Gladiator

The Gladiators franchise is owned by Omar Associates (USD 11 million) with senior wicketkeeper batter Sarfaraz Ahmed serving as the skipper. The Australian duo of Shane Watson and Shaun Tait serve as the head coach and bowling coach respectively. The Gladiators have also been crowned champions of the PSL once, in the 2019 season.

New signings in 2024 include Sherfane Rutherford, Khawaja Nafay, Rilee Rossouw, Mohammad Wasim, Sajjad Ali, Mohammad Amir, Sohail Khan, Akeal Hosein, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Qadir and Adil Naz. The team has strengthened its bowling attack with experienced pros such as Amir, Sohail and Qadir with an already strong-looking batting lineup comprising Jason Roy, Will Smeed and Saud Shakeel.

Sarfaraz Ahmed has led the team since 2016 in 80 matches, the most matches played as captain in the PSL. He also has scored the most runs (1503) for the franchise with the highest score of 81. Mohammad Nawaz picked up the most wickets (70) for the side but won’t be a part of the team in 2024 which makes fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain’s 47 wickets the most amongst the current bunch.

6. Multan Sultans

The latest entrants in the league and the most expensive franchise in the tournament as it was sold at USD 41.6 million to Schon Properties. After one season, the franchise agreement with Schon was terminated as it failed to pay its yearly fee with Ali Khan Tareen taking over and adopting the same team name, in 2021, the ownership was taken over by Alamgir Khan Tareen.

Pakistan’s ace wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan is the skipper of the Sultans with the team performing brilliantly from 2021-2023. They were crowned the champions in 2021 and reached the finals on 3 consecutive occasions finishing as runners-up in 2022 and 2023.
The team signed Reeza Hendricks, Dawid Malan, Tayyab Tahir, David Willey, Iftikhar Ahmed, Faisal Akram, Mohammad Ali, Chris Jordan, Reece Topley and Aftab Ibrahim in the 2024 draft. Rizwan has scored the most for the team with 1596 runs to his name. Imran Tahir who featured for the team from 2018-2022 has the most wickets (53) with Shahnawaz Dahani’s 38 wickets in 23 innings the second most for the Sultans.