Pakistan Super League Season 3....a brief overview...

It has been an outstanding month for Pakistani cricket.Pakistan Super League with all its thrill and drama has come to its end and there is no doubt each season of PSL is better than previous one whether you talk about batting, bowling or fielding.Eliminators and Final were scheduled in Pakistan and people had witnessed an amazing show of cricket in their respective cities.

This season was also special as another team," Multan Sultan" had made their debut although their performance in Later part of the season had faced a decaying graph and finished second from the bottom.

Following is the detailed analysis of each team performance throughout the season.

Peshawar Zalmi: Peshawar Zalmi was the defending Champion, representing the whole Pathan belt of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province they are the most loved team throughout the region.Owned by Javed Afridi and with Darran Sammy Leadership they had a wonderful season 2. But the start of season 3 was not as expected.Initially, Team faced a blow as Shahid Afridi left the franchise due to personal reasons.Adding to their miseries, Shakib-ul-Hassan also got injured.But with few initial defeats, they were able to pick a pace and with Darren Sammy one-legged performance, managed to qualify for the eliminators.In the first eliminator they faced Quetta and despite Anwar Ali's heroic knock they barely made to the second eliminator by winning with one run.The performance in the second eliminator was better as Kamran Akmal played a vital role and they managed to pile a bigger target in 16 over game and Karachi Kings was unable to chase.Final was in Karachi and this was the most awaited match as after 9 years citizens of Karachi were going to witnesses a match of such high intensity.Stakes were high but they failed in batting and ultimately lost the title.There is famous saying nowadays about Peshawar Zalmi that even they lost the match but they won the hearts of millions by their performance and positive attitude both on and off the pitch.

Quetta Gladiators: Representing whole Balochistan region, it was the only team to qualify for Playoffs of every season.Well, I consider them unlucky because they are so united, hardworking and organized and they perform in the whole tournament but lose in the final.Captained by Sarfaraz and with Sir Viv Richards in their dressing room, they had displayed as an amazing show of cricket in all three tournaments.Problem is that their key foreign players always refused to come to Pakistan which ultimately affect their performance and despite Playing Playoffs in every season they failed to lift the title.

Multan Sultans: Multan Sultans was a new inclusion to the PSL club and with very experienced players and coaching staff they had an ideal start as they won their first four games.They were leading the charts in the first half of the tournament and were displaying an excellent bowling and batting performance.But they failed to maintain their pace and lost all of their last matches and had ended their tournament with 5th position.According to my opinion, the problem was with their batting order and their whole reliance on Bowlers.Initially, the trick worked as the opening stand was performing but with the failure of the top order and no solid batsman after No.5 they were unable to score as well as a chase in Later half of tournament.

Karachi Kings: Representing the biggest city of Pakistan, and owned by Salman Iqbal, Karachi king is the biggest franchise of PSL and in all three season it always had biggest names of international cricket on their benches.I always compare them with Royal Challengers Bangalore of IPL as both teams have biggest names but fail to perform.This time, Shahid Afridi was also a part of Karachi while his performance in batting was poor but bowling stats were better.With Strong batting lineup and an excellent bowling attack they were second till the playoffs but unfortunately, they had lost both their playoffs matches.

Lahore Qalanders: Lahore qalandars is also one of the biggest and most loving franchise but not because of their players or performance but due to Fawad Rana, its owner.I haven't seen a more passionate and cricket loving soul in my life and with his innocent and charming smile he is the most loved franchise owner but unfortunately, his team's performance was poor and like last 2 season they had finished the tournament as last in the points table.But one credit we must give to this franchise as they always produced fine cricketers.With Fakhar Zaman as their find in last season, Shaheen Afridi and Agha Salaman seem to be the future stars of Pakistani cricket and Lahore qalandars will always have their share in a credit.

Islamabad United: Dean Jones suit, his red tie and notebook and his team performance were the charms of PSL 3 and they have stunned people with their blistering performance.They were the winner of the first season but due to fixing spams in the second season they failed to defend their title but in this season they were truly amazing.Islamabad united's team was a mixture of World class international players and promising emerging players and this combination has led them to the title.Hussain Talat, Asif are their findings and I am hopeful that at some stage they are gonna have a brilliant future.

Pakistan Super League Season 3 as a whole was an excellent platform for both international players as well as emerging players.It also served in bringing cricket back home and at last not the least it had entertained us more than anything and we are hopeful that upcoming seasons will be more thrilling and entertaining than previous three.