A season that simply happened
After two years of postponements, relocations and empty stadiums, the seventh season was played from start to finish in Pakistan, in five weeks, at two grounds. The National Stadium in Karachi took fifteen matches and the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore nineteen, including all four playoff matches and the final. Crowd restrictions applied throughout: only vaccinated spectators were admitted, children under twelve were barred, and capacity was limited. It was, by the standards of the two seasons before it, uneventful, which was the point.
The best team and the winners
Multan Sultans were much the best side in the group stage, winning nine of ten. They had Mohammad Rizwan, who made 546 runs and was named player of the tournament, and a bowling attack that had learned how to defend. They beat Lahore Qalandars twice in the group and again in the Qualifier, where they made 163 for 2 and won by 28 runs.
Lahore Qalandars had spent the competition's first five seasons finishing last in four of them. They were now captained by Shaheen Afridi, who was 21, and had Fakhar Zaman at the top of the order. Fakhar made 588 runs across the season, more than anyone had made in a season of the competition to that point, including 106 against Karachi. Shaheen took 20 wickets.
Beaten in the Qualifier, Lahore went into Eliminator 2 against Islamabad United, who had knocked out Peshawar Zalmi the day before. Lahore made 168 for 7 and defended it by six runs, David Wiese taking the award.
Lahore, 27 February
The final was a rematch with Multan, at Lahore's home ground, in front of a reported 27,000. Lahore made 180 for 5. Multan were bowled out for 138 in 19.3 overs, Haris Rauf taking the last wicket. Mohammad Hafeez, 41 years old, took the match award. It was Lahore Qalandars' first title in seven seasons, and the beginning of the only successful defence the competition has seen.
At the other end of the table, Karachi Kings, champions eighteen months earlier, won one match in ten. Shahid Afridi, in what was intended to be his farewell season, retired mid-tournament with a back injury.
Jason Roy's 116 from 57 balls for Quetta Gladiators was the highest score of the season, and Will Smeed, a 20-year-old English batter, made 99 and 97 in consecutive innings for Quetta without reaching a hundred. Naseem Shah's 5 for 20 was the best bowling.