PSL 2024: What's new and how to watch matches in the UAE

We are in the middle of the T20 season and fans are spoilt for choice when it comes to franchise tournaments.

The exponential growth of T20 cricket means there is some league or another going on in some part of the world for most of the year.

This week, fans will get to enjoy another tournament to feast on with some of the most talented white-ball cricketers in action.

Pakistan has emerged as a stronghold for T20 talent and the Pakistan Super League has become one of the premier franchise tournaments. Players like Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf, and Naseem Shah have become household names across the globe and a lot of credit for that goes to PSL.

Last season was a thriller, with Afridi guiding his Lahore Qalandars to a one-run win over Multan Sultans in the final, making it successive title wins against the same opposition.

As we prepare for the ninth season of PSL this week, here is everything you need to know.

When does PSL 2024 start?

The tournament starts on Saturday, February 17, in Lahore and the final takes place in Karachi on March 18.

Schedule

Teams

Islamabad United: Shadab Khan (captain), Azam Khan (wk), Imad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Colin Munro, Alex Hales, Jordan Cox, Qasim Akram, Faheem Ashraf, Matthew Forde, Hunain Shah, Shamyl Hussain, Salman Ali Agha, Tymal Mills, Rumman Raees, Ubaid Shah, Tom Curran

Quetta Gladiators: Rilee Rossouw (captain), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Jason Roy, Wanindu Hasaranga, Mohammad Amir, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Wasim, Mohammad Hasnain, Abrar Ahmed, Khawaja Nafay, Sherfane Rutherford, Will Smeed, Sajjad Ali (wk), Omair Bin Yousuf, Akeal Hosein, Usman Qadir, Adil Naz, Sohail Khan

Peshawar Zalmi: Babar Azam (captain), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Haris (wk), Tom-Kohler Cadmore, Rovman Powell, Asif Ali, Aamir Jamal, Naveen-ul-Haq, Noor Ahmad, Salman Irshad, Mohammad Zeeshan, Haseebullah Khan (wk), Shamar Joseph, Dan Mousley, Arif Yaqoob, Mehran Mumtaz, Khurram Shahzad, Umair Afridi, Lungi Ngidi

Lahore Qalandars: Shaheen Afridi (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Sahibzada Farhan, Abdullah Shafique, Rassie van der Dussen, Shai Hope (wk), Sikandar Raza, David Wiese, Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan, Syed Faridoun, Mirza Tahir Baig, Kamran Ghulam, Dan Lawrence, Ahsan Bhatti, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Imran

Multan Sultans: Mohammad Rizwan (captain, wk), Reeza Hendricks, Dawid Malan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, David Willey, Usama Mir, Tayyab Tahir, Abbas Afridi, Faisal Akram, Yasir Khan, Usman Khan, Aftab Ibrahim, Chris Jordan, Shahnawaz Dahani, Mohammad Ali

Karachi Kings: Shan Masood (captain), James Vince, Tim Seifert (wk), Shoaib Malik, Kieron Pollard, Irfan Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Amir Khan, Tabraiz Shamsi, Mir Hamza, Saad Baig, Mohammad Akhlaq (wk), Daniel Sams, Anwar Ali, Arafat Minhas, Sirajuddin

What is new?

For starters, veteran wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed has been replaced as captain of Quetta, with South African T20 veteran Rilee Rossouw named as skipper. It is a significant move as Sarfaraz had been Quetta's captain for eight seasons.

This year also sees a direct clash between the PSL and the other big league running concurrently – the DP World International League T20 in the UAE. The opening match of PSL is on the day of the final of ILT20 in Dubai. A few players have seen their stints in both tournaments curtailed or affected due to the overlap – a problem that will only grow in the future.

But there is some good news for PSL. Last month, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced that the live-streaming and broadcast rights for PSL over the next two years had witnessed an increase of 113 and 45 per cent. The total value of the new PSL media deal is pegged at $30 million for two years, making it one of the most lucrative assets in cricket.

Prize money

Last season, winners Lahore received a grand prize of 120 million Pakistani rupees ($450,000). Runners-up Multan won 48m rupees ($180,000).

How to watch PSL 2024 in UAE?

Fans can watch PSL on CricLife 1 via the Starzplay app. PSL also upload match highlights to their YouTube channel.

Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi

From: Dara

To: Team@

Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT

Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East

Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.

Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.

I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.

It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.

Uber on,

Dara