The seventh edition of the Pakistan Super League came to an end on Sunday, 27 February with Lahore Qalandars lifting their maiden title. The Shaheen Shah Afridi-led team won their title clash against Multan Sultans by a big margin of 42 runs to end their trophy drought. Lahore were the only team to beat Mohammad Rizwan led team this season. They defeated Multan on two occasions, once in the second half of the league at Lahore ending their 6-match winning streak and then in the finals.
This season’s tournament had a touch of vendetta on it with the Pakistan Cricket Board leaving no stones unturned in bringing international cricket back to Pakistan. After the cancellation of New Zealand and England’s tour to their country, Pakistan Cricket Board’s chairman Ramiz Raja pumped the team up with his fiery statements about bringing the pride back to Pakistan Cricket.
Pakistan, hurt by the attitude of who they thought were their allies in world cricket, put their best foot forward in the ICC T20 World Cup, only to narrowly miss out on the finals spot.
The Pakistan internationals however seemed to carry on from that tournament and put up exceptional performances in the PSL 7, hinting that they once again could be one of the favourites to win the title.
On that note, here are the full list of awards winners from the tournament.
Batter of the tournament
Fakhar Zaman - The Pakistan top order batsman raked up a massive 588 from 13 innings. Zaman was ridiculously good at the top order for Lahore Qalandars and even managed to score a century while chasing just 174 runs against Babar Azam’s Karachi Kings.
Zaman brought his A-game to the tournament by playing the T20 anchor role, starting slightly slow and then blasting it as he grew into the game.
Zaman’s incredible knocks along with the success of Rizwan and Shan Masood in the tournament would mean that Pakistan have a problem of plenty on their head when it comes to the selection of openers going forward
All rounder of the tournament
Khushdil Shah - Many did not believe Khushdil Shah had it in him to become of the top lower order hitters in Pakistan. To be fair to the detractors, there are times when Shah Khushdil Shah makes himself look very ordinary.
However, for the majority of the PSL 7, crowd saw Khushdil what he could potentially be, raking up big hits in the lower order and bowling spells that produced wickets in the middle overs. Khushdil was adjudged the all rounder of the tournament after scoring 153 runs at a strike-rate of 182 and picking 16 wickets with the economy of 6.9.
He also won the award for the fielder of the tournament.
Wicket-keeper of the tournament
The quality of wicketkeeping in Pakistan is not at an elite level and it came to fore in the final as well, with Zeeshan Ashraf dropping a lolly off Shan Masood in the early overs. However, generalisation does not work in the case of Mohammad Rizwan, who rarely misses a grab and has been very consistent with his stumping and catching abilities behind the stumps. While comparison against the likes of MS Dhoni has not started yet, but who knows? The conversation might just begin if Rizwan improves his DRS game.
Bowler of the tournament
Shadab Khan - This is one category where the riches of Pakistan are truly showcased and there were plenty of candidates on offer for this award. Imran Tahir, Zaman Khan, Haris Rauf and Shaheen Shan Afridi - all had been brilliant throughout the tournament but the award was nicked off by leg spinner Shadab Khan. Despite an injury riddled campaign, Shadab managed to scalp 19 wickets from 8 matches and went wicketless in just one single match in the entire tournament.
Emerging player of the tournament
Zaman Khan - It could really not have been anyone but him. Slingy action, comes right after Shaheen Shah Afridi’s spells and has a penchant for bowling toe crushing yorkers, Zaman Khan won this award by miles. Zaman Khan picked 18 wickets in the tournament and formed key partnerships with Haris Rauf and his captain Shaheen Afridi to play a key role in the victorious campaign.