After 20 eventful and thrilling encounters, the second edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) has reached the business end of it. The Brendon McCullum-led side Lahore Qalandars were the only unlucky franchise to have missed out on the playoffs berth. But truth be told, they played good cricket in the tournament too. Such is the format that a point or two could eventually see a team ousted from the league. Talking about the performances, the Peshawar Zalmi emerged as the team to beat in the tournament.
Some splendid all-round show saw them finish at the top of the points table. The team that saw a massive upsurge towards the end to have the tables turned was Karachi Kings. They needed to win 3 of their last four matches to qualify and they did it in style. Despite a certain Chris Gayle in the lineup, it was the young blood like Babar Azam that came to the fore as the heroes of the tournament. Azam comes out as just one of the top performers of the league stages.
Here we pick the PSL best XI of the group stages based on the herculean showdown by the players:
Opener – Dwayne Smith – Islamabad United
Hard-hitting West Indies batsman Dwayne Smith is known to be an impact player in the T20 format of the game. He did not disappoint this time either. Playing for the defending champions Islamabad United, Dwayne Smith finished as the leading run-getter of the league stages with 266 runs to his name in 8 matches.
He shifted his positions from middle order to the top order but ensured he was amidst the runs on most occasions. He had an impressive average of 38 and a strike rate 115.15. With 2 fifties to his name, Smith had the highest score of unbeaten 72 that helped Islamabad win a crucial last ball thriller against Peshawar Zalmi towards the second half of the league stages.
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