The Cricketer looks at the best 11 players from the opening week of the Pakistan Super League...
PSL 2021 squads
PSL 2021 fixtures
Has taken his international form into the first week of the competition and is already its highest run-scorer. Scores of 71, 41 and 76 (only one has helped inspire victory for Multan Sultans) follows a run of two centuries and a fifty in six matches against South Africa. Quite a turnaround from the 2020 edition when he faced just a single delivery.
Scorer of the one and only century in the tournament against Islamabad United, with 105 from 59 balls including eight sixes. Only player in PSL history to reach three figures and end up on the losing side. The knock was part of a record opening stand of 176 with Babar Azam.
The Englishman has picked up from where he left off in the Big Bash, with a fine 84 for Karachi Kings. That is four fifties in the T20 format in his last nine innings across two countries. This knock was an aesthetically pleasing as any which had gone before, punching the ball regularly through cover and down the ground.
Two match-winning innings from the evergreen 40-year-old, who continues to roll-back the years. A stubborn 33 helped hold off Peshawar Zalmi before a sensational unbeaten 73 at a strike-rate of 221.21 completed victory over Quetta Gladiators. A second half-century of the competition followed against Sultans but it was not enough to secure a third win in a row. Averaging at an eye-watering 166 after three outings.
Produced perhaps the knock of the tournament in hammering 81 from 40 deliveries as Gladiators went down by three wickets to Zalmi. He and Azam Khan put on 105 for the fourth wicket to take Gladiators close to 200, though failure to go past that landmark probably cost them. That effort from Sarfaraz followed up another contribution again in a losing cause against Qalandars.
One of the stand-out performances of the first week, with two wickets and an unbeaten 49 in the chase for United against Sultans, which earned him the player of the match award. Dismissed Vince and Khushdil Shah before playing the finisher role with six fours and a maximum to take his side over the line in a thrilling chase.
PSL TEAM GUIDES
Has taken his form towards the end of the BBL into the first three games of the PSL. Was dispatched against Zalmi, but took two wickets in the other outings. Getting rid of Sohail Akhtar and then a set Joe Denly was crucial to the victory for Sultans, as was the run-out of Hafeez and dismissal of David Wiese. Produced a punchy 22 against United.
Produced a player of the match display in the victory over Zalmi, taking 3-14 from his full allocation, which included 16 dots and just the one boundary conceded. Just about one of the best fast-bowlers in this format around at the moment and on this occasion proved himself potent at both ends of the innings. Cracking ball to get Imam-ul-Haq first up.
The Lancashire seamer is the leading wicket-taker in the PSL with seven across his first three games. Zalmi were never more indebted to his consistent line and length than in the final over of the Gladiators innings, when he took the wickets of Azam, Ben Cutting and Mohammad Nawaz shipped just five runs kept them below 200 and lay the platform for a successful chase.
Lewis Gregory produced a match-winning performance in the chase
The only emerging player who was retained before the PSL draft, and with endorsements from Dean Jones and Wasim Akram ringing in his ears, this past week is what you would call a genuine breakthrough. Bowling in the tough middle-overs, he claimed 3-16 and delivered 16 dots, getting rid of the dangerous Azam among others.
With spinners failing to make an impact during the competition, it makes sense to include yet another quick in this XI. On any other day the Zalim skipper would have been named player of the match with two wickets - albeit he went for 54 - and an important 20 in the chase against Gladiators, not that he needs many more accolades.
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