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Commentators, match officials confirmed for PSL 8

The tournament will begin on February 13

By Web Desk

February 07, 2023

Zainab Abbas (L) is among the presenters for the event — PCB

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has confirmed a panel of 15 commentators and two presenters for the 34-match Pakistan Super League (PSL) season eight.

Alan Wilkins, Bazid Khan, Danny Morrison, Daren Ganga, Dominic Cork, Mark Butcher, Nick Knight, Sana Mir, Sikandar Bakht, Simon Doull, Urooj Mumtaz, Vernon Philander and Waqar Younis will commentate in English, while Marina Iqbal and Tariq Saeed will be Urdu commentators. Additionally, Erin Holland and Zainab Abbas will be the presenters.

The PSL 8 will be played across four venues from February 13 to March 19. The Multan and Karachi-leg matches will be held from February 13-26, before action shifts to Lahore and Rawalpindi where 20 matches will be played from February 26 to March 19.

The PCB also announced match officials for PSL 8 with Aleem Dar, Richard Illingworth and Michael Gough to be accompanied by Ahsan Raza, Asif Yaqoob, Rashid Riaz, Faisal Khan Afridi, Martin Saggers, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Alex Wharf and Shozab Raza. They will be supported by Muhammad Asif, Nasir Hussain and Tariq Rasheed, who will be involved in fourth umpire’s role.

Roshan Mahanama, former member of the ICC’s elite panel of match referees, will return for the eighth successive year and will lead a team of five match referees with other members being Ali Naqvi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Javed Malik and Muhammad Anees.

Wharf, who played 13 ODIs for England, and Saggers, who featured in three Tests for England, will make their PSL debuts along with Sri Lanka’s Palliyaguruge. The three are members of the ICC’s international panel of umpires.

For Gough, it will be his fourth appearance in PSL, while it will be Illingworth’s sixth in the event.

The opening ceremony of PSL 8 will be held in Multan on February 13 prior to the tournament opener between 2021 winners Multan Sultans and defending champions Lahore Qalandars; meanwhile the closing ceremony and final will be played on March 19 in Lahore, which will also host play-offs.

Lahore Qalandars will attempt to become the first side to win back-to-back titles; meanwhile Islamabad United will aim to become the most successful side by lifting the trophy thrice.

Rawalpindi will stage 11 fixtures, Karachi and Lahore will host nine matches each, whereas Multan will have five home games.