The excitement is palpable building up to the kickoff of the ninth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) on February 17. With the star-studded lineups, and a fervent fan base, PSL has established itself as one of the premier T20 leagues in the World. 

Scheduled to run from February 17 to March 17, PSL will see six teams participating in the league. It will be another season filled with thrilling cricketing action. Six teams will be playing against one another across 34 matches to vie for the PSL trophy. 

The six teams are: Lahore Qalandars, Karachi Kings, Islamabad United, Quetta Gladiators, Multan Sultan and Peshavar Zalmi. The tournament will be played across four venues, Gaddafi Stadium (Lahore), Multan Cricket Stadium (Multan), Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium (Rawalpindi) and National Stadium (Karachi). 

Ahead of the tournament, there have been significant blows having been suffered by different teams with few players pulling out of the league.

Players like, Shai Hope, Matthew Forde, Akeal Hosein, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed Rassie van Der Dussen, James Vince and Naveen ul Haq have pulled out of the tournament. Most recently, Reece Topley opted out of the tournament. 

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

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

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

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

Karachi Kings: Shan Masood (c), Shoaib Malik, Tabraiz Shamsi, Mir Hamza, Muhammad Akhlaq, Irfan Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Kieron Pollard, Daniel Sams, Tim Seifert, Mohammad Amir Khan, Anwar Ali, Arafat Minhas, Sirajuddin, Saad Baig, Jamie Overton

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