KARACHI: The next edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) tournament will start in Karachi on January 27 when defending champion Multan Sultans will face the home team Karachi Kings after the opening ceremony, the country’s cricket board announced on Friday.
Quetta Gladiators will stand toe to toe with the 2017 winners Peshawar Zalmi on the following day.
In the first of the six double-headers to be played in the 32-day tournament, Multan Sultans will take on the 2020 runners-up Lahore Qalandars, followed by a contest between Karachi Kings and Quetta Gladiators on Saturday.
After the country’s commercial capital Karachi hosts 15 matches from January 27 through February 7, action will shift to Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium where the remaining 15 league matches and four play-offs will be held.
The final match of the tournament will also take place in Lahore, though it was held in Abu Dhabi in 2021 where Sultans outperformed Zalmi by 47 runs.

According to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the 2022 tournament has been planned in such a way that every side will play equal number of matches in Karachi and Lahore.
These contests will be held in both natural and artificial lights.
The PCB has decided the HBL PSL Draft, 2022, will be held at the High Performance Center in Lahore on December 12.
Each side will come to the draft with a maximum of eight-player retention from the last event. Following the finalization of player categories, the transfer and retention window is now officially open and will close on December 10.
Following an extensive review and assessment process, the PCB has updated categories of local players.
In the biggest moves, the cricket authorities have upgraded Mohammad Rizwan of Multan Sultans, Asif Ali of Islamabad United and Haris Rauf of Lahore Qalandar to the Platinum Category.
Multan Sultans’ Sohaib Maqsood and Haider Ali of Peshawar Zalmi have been moved up from Silver and Gold to the Diamond Category, respectively.
“I am delighted that the HBL PSL 7 schedule has been announced,” said PCB chairman Ramiz Raja. “This will now get the ball rolling with the teams to start planning and finalizing their line-ups and the PCB increasing the pace of the operational delivery to ensure they provide quality playing facilities for the players as well as five-star experience to the fans and our valued commercial partners.”

He added the HBL PSL 7 will also kickstart “a bumper year for Pakistan cricket” in which the men’s cricket teams from Australia and England would visit the country.