Pakistan Super League Schedule 2016

After a long wait of nearly five years, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is finally a reality. This showcase event of the Pakistan Cricket Board will kick off its inaugural edition onFebruary 4, 2016 with a host of stars from across the cricketing world participating in it. The grand finale of the tournament will be played on February 24, 2016, just weeks before the start of the World T20 which will be hosted in India later in the year.

A total of 24 matches will be played over the course of 21 days. The competition will be divided into two phases – group and knockout stage. The group stage will be in a round robin format with every team playing the other four teams twice. At the end of this stage, the top four teams will qualify for the semi-final rounds. The winner of each semi-final will face off in a one-off final to determine the winner.

The T20 tournament will see five teams with each team representing a city participating in it. Plans are already in place for the PSL to become a 10 team league within five years.

Dates		PSL T20 2016 Fixtures	Venues
Thu Feb 4	1st T20	Islamabad vs Quetta	Dubai
Fri Feb 5	2nd T20	Karachi vs Lahore	Dubai
Fri Feb 5	3rd T20	Peshawar vs Islamabad	Dubai
Sat Feb 6	4th T20	Quetta vs Karachi	Dubai
Sat Feb 6	5th T20	Lahore vs Peshawar	Dubai
Sun Feb 7	6th T20	Islamabad vs Karachi	Dubai
Sun Feb 7	7th T20	Quetta vs Peshawar	Dubai
Mon Feb 8	8th T20	Lahore vs Quetta	Dubai
Wed Feb 10	9th T20	Islamabad vs Lahore	Sharjah
Thu Feb 11	10th T20	Karachi vs Peshawar	Sharjah
Thu Feb 11	11th T20	Islamabad vs Quetta	Sharjah
Fri Feb 12	12th T20	Karachi vs Lahore	Sharjah
Fri Feb 12	13th T20	Peshawar vs Islamabad	Sharjah
Sat Feb 13	14th T20	Quetta vs Karachi	Sharjah
Sat Feb 13	15th T20	Lahore vs Peshawar	Sharjah
Sun Feb 14	16th T20	Islamabad vs Karachi	Sharjah
Sun Feb 14	17th T20	Quetta vs Peshawar	Sharjah
Tue Feb 16	18th T20	Lahore vs Quetta	Dubai
Wed Feb 17	19th T20	Karachi vs Peshawar	Dubai
Wed Feb 17	20th T20	Islamabad vs Lahore	Dubai
Fri Feb 19	1st Playoff	1st Place vs 2nd Place	Dubai
Sat Feb 20	2nd Playoff	3rd Place vs 4th Place	Dubai
Sat Feb 20	3rd Playoff	Playoff 2 Winner vs Playoff 1 Loser	Dubai
Tue Feb 23	Finals	TBD vs TBD	Dubai

Some big names from different countries have already been roped in for playing in the PSL. Players including the likes of Chris Gayle, Kevin Pieterson, Lasith Malinga, Brad Haddin along with big names from Pakistan cricket like Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammed Hafeez have already been confirmed for the tournament.

All matches will be played at two grounds – Dubai International Cricket Stadium and Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium as announced by the PCB.

The Dubai International Cricket Stadium, earlier known as the Dubai Sports Cricket Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Dubai, UAE. It is mainly used for cricket and is one of only three stadiums in the country. It is part of the Dubai Sports City in Dubai and has a seating capacity of 25,000 spectators but is expandable to 30,000 spectators.

The Dubai International Stadium is lit by a special system of floodlights named ‘Ring of Fire’ where the lights are fixed around the circumference of the round roof of the stadium which minimizes the shadow of objects on the ground. It has 350 numbers of floodlights attached in series.

It includes VIP and VVIP sections with indoor box and outdoor terrace seating, a Members’ Club seating area and press facilities for nearly 100 members of the media.

The Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium is in the emirate of Sharjah in UAE. It initially started with a few limited seats and very modest facilities but by 2002 it had a seating capacity of 27,000 spectators. It is also capable of hosting day-night encounters because of its excellent floodlights.

The seating in the stadium includes Chairman Suite, Corporate Hospitality box, 12 seater box, eight seater box, 16 seater box, seven seater box, diamond box and a media box.

The stadium also holds the record for hosting the most number of one-day international matches. It is currently being used as the home ground for the Afghanistan cricket team for One-Day International and First-Class matches.