Pakistan Super League Squads & Breakout Players in 2024

Another season of the PSL has begun with six teams participating. We take a look at the squads of each team, along with their breakout players. 

Two-time winners Quetta Gladiators made structural changes ahead of PSL 2024, with a late change in leadership after eight years. Out went Sarfaraz Ahmed, and in came South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw, who took over the job despite not having captained preciously in a professional T20 match. 

The franchise punted on Rossouw’s outstanding record - no overseas player had scored more runs in PSL history. Rossouw’s knowledge of the team dynamics - he spent three highly profitable seasons from 2017-19, playing in two finals and winning the title in 2019, gave him the stature.

Saud Shakeel, who has had a breakthrough 2023, having first come into the Test squad and then into the World Cup mix, was named vice-captain in a role that is largely developmental. This tectonic shift marks a change in the team philosophy of backing youth and empowering them to deliver after four seasons of mixed results.

That is precisely why they also roped in Shane Watson as head coach, with Moin Khan moving on to the role of a director. Watson had himself been a part of the Gladiators as a player and teams up with Shaun Tait, who is a bowling coach, with the idea of turning them from one of the most consistent outfits to the most underperforming side.

There’s enough quality and depth. Abrar Ahmed, the upcoming Pakistan leg spinner, is part of the mix and has come up leaps and bounds over the past year. There’s experience in the form of Mohammad Amir, the former left-arm pacer, while the top overseas pros include the big-hitting Sherfane Rutherford, West Indies’ spin-bowling allrounder Akeal Hosein and England’s Jason Roy among others.

Four games in, the Gladiators are second in the table with three wins in four matches. Peshawar Zalmi are breathing down their neck, level on six points with only net-run rate separating them.

They offloaded their biggest acquisition - Babar Azam - in a move that triggered speculation if one of the world’s current best batters had a difference of opinion with the management.  In terms of results, the Kings had last won in 2020 but hadn’t come close in three subsequent seasons. Perhaps it was a move set to free up the budget for them to look elsewhere to shore up their batting firepower.

Prior to the season, they were hit by a slew of unavailabilities. Tabraiz Shamsi, the South Africa wrist spinner, won’t feature in the second half of the competition while Jamie Overton, the England allrounder, was withdrawn from the entire season by his county side, Surrey, who want him to be fit and ready for the start of the new championship season.

But their spin roster is boosted by a significant local presence, which includes Shoaib Malik, Arafat Minhas, and Mohammad Nawaz, among others. The side boasts of firepower in the form of current Pakistan captain Shan Masood and T20 global superstar Kieron Pollard, while Hasan Ali, Daniel Sams, and Tim Seifert are among the other key players in the mix.

The Kings have had a mixed start to the season and are currently fifth among six teams with two wins and as many losses in four games.

No team has shown the kind of improvement over the years like Multan Sultans. After struggling for the first five seasons, they won the title in 2021 and have finished runners-up for back-to-back seasons in 2022 and 2023. 

In between all that, they also lost their owner, Alamgir Sareen. They also hit the headlines when, late last year, they became the first PSL franchise to appoint a female general manager, Hijab Zahid.

The team’s strong presence in the PSL has been headlined by captain Mohammad Rizwan’s consistency, but the addition of young Tayyab Tahir, who has forced his way into the setup following strong performances in domestic cricket and Pakistan Emerging. This has injected new energy into an already strong batting lineup that also boasts of hard-hitting West Indies opener Johnson Charles, Iftikhar Ahmed, and South Africa’s Reeza Hendricks, who is third on the run charts with 286 runs in six innings.

Reece Topley’s unavailability has put a lot of pressure on their otherwise slightly inexperienced attack, but they’ve so far held their own in taking the top spot after four games, with a bulk of the responsibility shared by Mohammad Ali, the current leading wicket-taker in the competition with 11 scalps, Usama Mir and England allrounder David Willey.

They look formidable enough to make a serious push for the title this time around as well.

King Babar. That’s the name. Zalmi have run riot with Babar’s inspirational presence at the top of the order that has translated into him becoming the highest run-getter in the competition six games in. Any questions over Babar’s form have been banished with his spectacular run and approach in the Powerplay that has given him and the franchise a new vibe at the top.

Babar has struck those runs at 151.37. This includes one century and two half-centuries. Babar’s 111 against Islamabad United in the competition took him to 11 T20 centuries that placed him second behind Chris Gayle, who hit 22 tons for the most hundreds in T20 cricket.

Babar aside, it must also please the Pakistani management at large that young Saim Ayub has stood tall with noteworthy performances for the team this time around. Ayub is just about breaking through into the Pakistan setup, and consistent performances will help him steer clear of the competition.

With the ball, they saw the arrival of a young star in leg spinner Arif Yaqoob, who picked up four wickets in four balls against United to help clinch a dramatic game. Yaqoob had also played a part earlier in the very first game, taking three wickets in an over to deny Multan Sultans in their opening game. Rising fast bowler Mohammed Zeeshan has been another one to look out for.

Zalmi are currently third, with three wins in five games.

After a wretched first two years, Islamabad United finally won silverware in 2018. However, since then, they haven’t made a single final. Currently, they’re placed fourth in the league with three wins in five games.

Colin Munro has provided barnstorming starts at the top of the order, and his dominating presence has helped carry the batting lineup that has struggled for consistency at different times. The exciting aspect of their line-up has been the bowling in tandem of brothers Naseem and Ubaid Shah, who’ve brought with them plenty of raw pace and swing.

Under Mike Hesson’s leadership - this is his first season in charge - there has been a marked change in terms of ensuring players have continuity and get a longer rope. One of the byproducts of this mindset has been the firm backing Agha Salman has received, and he hasn’t let them down. Currently, he’s fifth on the runs charts, with 188 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 154.09.

What it also tells you is how much the top order has been reliant on Munro and how the rest have stuttered for someone batting in the middle order to be among the top five run-getters at the halfway mark of the season.

Naseem has been excellent but is yet to hit top gear, while Shadab Khan, the leg spinner and former captain, is still feeling his way into the season. They will need each of these players to play pivotal roles in the second half for them to make the final and beyond.

Winners for two back-to-back seasons, the Qalandars have hit a bit of a plateau and are currently last on the table. They spent much of the home leg losing games in front of their home crowd, and while there was a slight improvement towards the end, there hasn't been a massive change on the results front. 

The most agonizing of these losses was against arch-rivals Karachi Kings in a last-ball defeat. Shaheen Afridi’s leadership has been tested right through, and while these are still early days in his captaincy career, the fact is he and the team haven’t been helped with a slew of injuries. Most notable is Haris Rauf being ruled out due to injury.

Rashid Khan’s absence due to a back injury hasn’t helped either, while Fakhar Zaman has struggled for form up top. Six losses in six all but rules the reigning champions of a playoff spot. It’s perhaps a reality check they will do well to sit up and take note of.