Originally scheduled to take place across four cities in Pakistan from 11 April to 18 May 2025, the league was delayed to 25 May amid the 2025 India–Pakistan conflict. In the final, Lahore Qalandars defeated Quetta Gladiators by 6 wickets, becoming the second team to win the PSL title for the third time.[1]
Background
In May 2024, the PCB planned the league's tenth season to take place from April to May to host the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy during February and March. This meant that the tournament's schedule coincided for the first time with that of 2025 Indian Premier League. The season is the last under the ten-year agreement for a six-team structure, HBL Pakistan's title sponsorship, and the current broadcast rights deals.[a] The PCB plans to expand the league to eight teams from 2026.[6][7]
The squads were finalized with the draft in Lahore on 13 January 2025, after the franchises announced their retained players.[8][9] The new squad was finalized on 16 May.[10][11]
The tournament took place across four cities; Karachi, Lahore, Multan, and Rawalpindi. While Rawalpindi Stadium remained the home ground for Peshawar Zalmi, Gaddafi Stadium was the home ground for Quetta Gladiators.[12] The Karachi and Lahore stadiums were briefly renovated, and they were re-inaugurated in February 2025.[13][14] Tickets went on sale on 3 April 2025.[15][16]
Later, one home match in Multan was shifted to Lahore due to extreme weather conditions and logistics issues.[17] The playoff stage was completely shifted to Lahore as well, and another league stage match was shifted from Multan to Rawalpindi.[18][19]
On 7 April 2025, the PCB announced the list of thirteen umpires and seven referees for the league stage. They include four members of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, four of the PCB's International Panel of ICC Umpires, and four of the Elite Panel of PCB Umpires. They further include one member of Elite Panel of ICC Referees and two of PCB's International Panel of ICC Referees. The Match Official's Technology, powered by Hawk-Eye Innovations, will include live umpire communications through handheld tablets for auto no-ball detection, instant Decision Review System, innings timers, match logging, and real-time multi-angle replays.[26][27][28]
The season's logo variant was revealed on 4 February 2025, with nomenclature as HBL PSL X.[29][b] The official anthem "X Dekho" was released on 2 April,[30] and opening ceremony was held at Rawalpindi stadium on 11 April.[31]
Trophy
The 'Luminara Trophy' was unveiled on 13 March 2025. Weighing 10kg, it has 22,850 high-lustre zircon stones on it. Notably, the PSL trophy will have a first-ever nation-wide tour prior to the tournament.[32][33][34] On 10 April, the PCB announced the prize money; the winning team will be awarded with US$500,000, while the runner-up team will receive US$200,000.[35][c]
Broadcast and media
In 2025, the league introduced simultaneous commentary in English and Urdu; PTV Sports returned with A Sports to share the broadcast feeds, while Walee Technologies sub-licensed various platforms for live streaming. Along with eight international commentators, the PCB listed thirteen national commentators. Zainab Abbas and Erin Holland present the season.[37][38][39][40]
Like previous year, the league yet again faced boycott campaigns from Pro-Palestinian groups in view of Gaza war, mainly because of sponsorships by KFC and Pepsi, claiming their parent companies' affiliation with pro-Israeli stances.[46][47] Empty stadiums were noted particularly in Karachi, Lahore [48][49] and poor traffic conditions, unprofessional security arrangement, and many other issues were heavily criticised.[50] Although, large gathering was reported in Karachi for Gaza Solidarity March on 13 April 2025.[51]
Indian conflict
In aftermath of 2025 Pahalgam attack, Sony Sports Network and FanCode stopped broadcasting the tournament in India after the first thirteen matches, while Indian media personnel left Pakistan, with the PCB finding substitutes.[52][53][54]
On 8 May, the match in Rawalpindi was postponed after an attempted drone attack near the stadium, due to the India–Pakistan conflicts.[55] Later that night, the PCB announced to shift the remaining fixtures and playoff stage to UAE to ensure safety and security,[56][57][58][59] however, scrapped the plan the next day and postponed the league upon instructions by then Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.[60][61][62]
As ceasefire happened over the conflict on 10 May,[63] the PCB announced to resume the league in Pakistan,[18][19] and contacted the foreign players to re-join after they were off-boarded to Dubai.[64][65] The Hawk-Eye team that supplies the DRS technology did not travel back to Pakistan after the resumption of the league.[66]
League stage
Format
Each team plays every other team twice in a double round robin format; one home match and one away match, with the top four teams in the points table advancing to the playoffs.[12][67]
Note: Results listed are according to the home (horizontal) and visitor (vertical) teams.
Note: Click on a result to see a summary of the match.
Fixtures
On 28 February 2025, the PCB had scheduled the fixtures during 11 April to 18 May.[68] However, on 13 May, the PCB rescheduled the last 4 matches and the playoff stage during 17 May to 25 May.[18][19]
Quetta Gladiators won the toss and elected to bat.
This final broke the record for the highest successful run chase in a PSL final by Lahore Qalandars—surpassing the previous record of 175 by Islamabad United in the 2016 final. This match also had one of the highest combined scores (405) in PSL final history.[81][82]
↑ In 2019, rights for Multan Sultans were sold for seven years.[2] The other five teams existed since the league's formation in 2016, along with HBL's title sponsorship.[3][4] The broadcast rights were last awarded in 2024 for two years.[5]
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