In 2026, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) will make a comeback for its eleventh season, which is expected to be among the most thrilling in the competition’s history. On Thursday, March 26, the tournament will begin at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, where the new team Hyderabad Kingsmen will play the hosts and reigning champions Lahore Qalandars.

It was decided to play the full tournament behind closed doors and exclusively in two locations—Lahore and Karachi—due to the continuing concerns in the Middle East. The showpiece final and two eliminators are scheduled to take place at the former on May 3.

Teams competing in the PSL 2026

With two new teams joining the league, the 2026 PSL season will be the first to have eight teams vying for the championship. The following teams will compete in the PSL this year:

Qalandars of Lahore
Kings of Karachi
The new teams are the Quetta Gladiators, Islamabad United, Peshawar Zalmi, Rawalpindi Pindiz, Hyderabad Kingsmen, and Sialkot Stallions (now known as Multan Sultans).

What took place in 2025?

Lahore Qalandars defeated Quetta Gladiators by six wickets to win the 2025 edition of the prestigious T20 tournament, their third championship in the previous four seasons. Kusal Perera won Player of the Match after leading his team to victory with an undefeated 62 off 31 balls.

After scoring 399 runs at an average of 57 throughout the competition, Hasan Nawaz was named Player of the Tournament. However, with 449 runs, Sahibzada Farhan emerged as the top scorer. Conversely, with 19 wickets to his credit, Shaheen Shah Afridi was the top wicket-taker.

Structure of the tournament

There are 40 Group Stage games, three playoff games, and the final in the 2026 PSL season. The eight teams are split up into groups of four, and each team will play the other group’s four teams once and the remaining three teams twice.

In the Group Stage, each team will play ten games in total. The top four teams will move on to the postseason. The top two teams compete against one another in a playoff to earn a spot in the final, a concept that is strikingly similar to the Indian Premier League (IPL). Eliminator 1 will pit the teams placed third and fourth against one another. To secure a spot in the final, the winner must play the playoff loser in a virtual semifinal.

Overview of All Squads

Islamabad United: Salman Irshad, Andries Gous, Devon Conway, Faheem Ashraf, Mehran Mumtaz, Max Bryant, Mark Chapman, Mir Hamza Sajjad, Sameer Minhas, Sameen Gul, Haider Ali, Richard Gleeson, Mohammad Hasnain, Dipendra Singh Airee, Mohammad Faiq, Salman Mirza, Nisar Ahmad, Shamar Joseph, Imad Wasim, and Shadab Khan (c).

Peshawar Zalmi: Sufiyan Muqeem, Abdul Samad, Ali Raza, Aaron Hardie, Aamir Jamal, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Haris, Khalid Usman, Abdul Subhan, James Vince, Michael Bracewell, Iftikhar Ahmed, Nahid Rana, Mirza Tahir Baig, Kashif Ali, Shahnawaz Dahani, Farhan Yousaf, Mohammad Basit, and Shoriful Islam.

Quetta Gladiators: Rilee Rossouw, Jahandad Khan, Faisal Akram, Arafat Minhas, Mohammad Imran Randhawa, Shehzad Gul, Spencer Johnson, Sam Harper, Bevon Jacobs, Ben McDermott, Tom Curran, Jahanzaib Sultan, Alzarri Joseph, Ahsan Ali, Bismillah Khan, and Saud Shakeel (c).

Lahore Qalandars: Abdullah Shafique, Sikandar Raza, Mohammad Naeem, Mustafizur Rahman, Haris Rauf, Usama Mir, Fakhar Zaman, Ubaid Shah, Haseebullah Khan, Mohammad Farooq, Parvez Hossain Emon, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Tayyab Tahir, Rubin Hermann, Dunith Wellalage, Maaz Khan, Shahab Khan, and Gudakesh Motie.

Multan Sultans: Ashton Turner (c), Steve Smith, Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan, Peter Siddle, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lachlan Shaw, Delano Potgieter, Josh Philippe, Momin Qamar, Shan Masood, Mohammad Shehzad, Mohammad Ismail, Arshad Iqbal, Atizaz Habib Khan, Ahmed Daniyal, Salman Mirza, and Saad Masood.

Karachi Kings: Hassan Ali, Abbas Afridi, Khushdil Shah, Saad Baig, Moeen Ali, Azam Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Shahid Aziz, Mir Hamza, Adam Zampa, Mohammad Hamza Sohail, Aqib Ilyas, Khuzaima Bin Tanveer, Muhammad Waseem, Ihsanullah, Rizwan Ullah, Reeza Hendricks, Johnson Charles, and David Warner (c).

Rawalpindi: Abdullah Fazal, Amad Butt, Laurie Evans, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Dian Forrester, Asif Afridi, Kamran Ghulam, Fawad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan (c), Naseem Shah, Daryl Mitchell, Sam Billings, Zaman Khan, Yasir Khan, Rishad Hossain, and Mohammad Amir.

Hyderabad Kingsmen: Saim Ayub, Usman Khan, Glenn Maxwell, Akif Javed, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Ali, Kusal Perera, Irfan Khan Niazi, Hassan Khan, Shayan Jahangir, Hammad Azam, Asif Mehmood, Hunain Shah, Riley Meredith, Sharjeel Khan, Rizwan Mehmood, Saad Ali, Tayyab Arif, Ahmed Hussain, and Ottniel Baartman (c).

One player from each team to keep an eye on:

Shadab Khan of Islamabad United
Babar Azam, Peshawar Zalmi; Abrar Ahmed, Quetta Gladiators; Shaheen Shah Afridi, Lahore Qalandars
Steve Smith of the Multan Sultans
Adam Zampa of the Karachi KingsNaseem Shah of Rawalpindi Pindiz and Saim Ayub of Hyderabad Kingsmen

Where can I watch the 2026 PSL?

ESPN in Australia and New Zealand
Willow, Willow Sports, and Willow by Cricbuzz in the USA and Canada
Bangladesh: T Sports, Tapmad; Sri Lanka: Dialogue Television; Nepal: Tapmad; United Kingdom: ARY Digital, ARY Plus, Tapmad
Cricbuzz is accessible on Cricbuzz TV through ELIFE, Switch TV, and StarPlay in MENA (Middle East & North Africa).
The rest of the world: Tapmad

PSL 2026 schedule update