Top 5 matches in Pakistan Super League history
The Pakistan Super League is in its fifth season, and the four previous years have produced some incredible performances and encounters between the teams. The very first Pakistan Super League, back in 2016, included five teams with Islamabad United winning the title ahead of Quetta Gladiators, Peshawar Zalmi, Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars.
Multan Sultans joined the league two years later in 2018 and in the same season, finished fifth. Islamabad have since added another title to their repertoire while Peshawar and Quetta have also claimed a maiden title each.
So from stunning tons to iconic bat drops, which matches have lit up each of these editions and shot the PSL to T20 franchise superstardom? We have a look at five of the best matches in PSL history.
#5 Islamabad United vs Lahore Qalandars, March 9th 2019
The only one-sided game on this countdown is a match that saw the most successful PSL team ever, Islamabad United, take on the least successful team, Lahore Qalandars. This was the first major match hosted in Karachi for some time and the crowd exploded when PSL superstar Luke Ronchi was caught behind off the bowling of Shaheen Afridi first ball, but this was to be the only real point of celebration for the Men in Green.
Usually Ronchi's understudy, Cameron Delport took off with some incredible shots to make light work of the Qalandars attack with short boundaries in play. A century partnership with Chadwick Walton and a brutal 21-ball 55* finish from Asif Ali to go with Delport's unbeaten 60-ball 117 launched the champions to a monumental 238-3. Shaheen's spell of 1-62 from four overs proved to be the most expensive in PSL history.
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The records weren't done though, because as the Qalandars attacked to make the scorecard look respectable, Faheem Ashraf took advantage with some extremely disciplined bowling to record a stunning 6-19 spell while his colleagues were sent to the cleaners. Faheem registered the second-best bowling figures in PSL history behind Ravi Bopara's 6-16 back in 2016, while the Qalandars managed 189-9 in response thanks largely to Sohail Akhtar's 75 from 34 balls.