PSL 2020, the fifth season of Pakistan Super League started on 20 February 2020. This was the first time that the entire tournament was to be held in Pakistan and the fixtures were finalised on 1 January 2020.
The league stage of PSL started on 20 February with a match between last season’s champions Quetta Gladiators and Islamabad United at National Stadium, Karachi. The final league stage match was played on 15 March 2020. Multan Sultans topped the table followed by Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi.
The playoff stage was postponed due to the COVID-10 pandemic. At first, PCB, the administrators of PSL were thinking of deciding the winner based on the points table. But in July, it was announced that PCB is planning to complete the season in November. The playoff fixtures were confirmed in September.
All the four playoff matches of PSL 2020 will be played at National Stadium in Karachi. They were to be originally played at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore but had to be shifted to Karachi due to poor air quality in Lahore. Both the qualifiers will be played on 14 November with the Eliminator being played the next day. The tournament will conclude with the Final being played on 17 November 2020, 271 days after its first match.
All the teams in the playoffs except Peshawar Zalmi are yet to lay their hand on the PSL trophy. Karachi Kings and Multan Sultans are the favourites and also have the chance to take the shorter route to the trophy courtesy being the top two teams in the table.
The PSL 2020 is going to be played amongst the six teams in double round robin format followed by the playoffs. The format of the games being Twenty20 cricket. Each team will face every other team twice, once at home and once in away conditions. The group stage will consist of a total of thirty matches.
The top four teams leading the points table by the end of the group stage will qualify for the playoffs. At the playoffs the team placed first two positions will face each other for Qualifier 1 and the third and fourth place teams will play the first Eliminator. The second Eliminator would be played between the winner of Eliminator 1 and the losing side from Qualifier 1. The winner of Eliminator 2 will then face the winners of Qualifier 1 for the Playoffs.
