The ongoing eighth season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is fast approaching towards its business end, with mere five matches left in the league stage before the playoffs commence from March 15 onwards, at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
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With majority of the league matches being played on absolute batting paradises, this has been a season dominated by the batters, some of whom have played absolute blinders to leave the fans slack-jawed.
After the end of 25 matches this season, scores in excess of the 200-run mark have been accomplished 12 times, while those in excess of 190 runs have been achieved seven times. The season has already witnessed four centurions, with Babar Azam and Jason Roy hitting one each in the same match yesterday, as the Quetta Gladiators registered the third-highest successful run-chase in the history of T20 Cricket.
In fact, three of the top-6 highest successful run-chases in PSL history have been registered this season itself.
Leading wicket taker in PSL 2023
However, what makes this T20 league stand-out is the attacking bowling put on display especially by the pacers despite the batters having outplayed them more often than not so far.
The top-3 bowlers in the highest-wicket takers list in PSL 2023 so far are all fast bowlers. In fact, barring Rashid Khan and Usama Mir, the top-10 leading wicket-takers this season are pacers.
Multan Sultans’ 20-year-old pacer from Pakistan – Ishanullah, has had a breakthrough season with the ball so far, bowling consistently above the 145 km/h mark.
He is presently the highest wicket-taker so far in PSL 2023, with 18 scalps under his name across 8 innings at a strike rate of 10.5. He had even taken a five-wicket haul versus Quetta Gladiators in his second match of the season at the Multan Cricket Stadium, to win the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
Lahore Qalandars’ skipper Shaheen Afridi (14 wickets, 8 innings) and Multan Sultans’ Abbas Afridi (13 wickets, 7 innings) are the ones taking the second and third spot respectively in the list so far.
PSL 8 top wicket taker full list (updated)
| Player | Innings | Wickets | Strike Rate |
| Abbas Afridi | 11 | 23 | 10.2 |
| (Multan Sultans) | |||
| Ihsanullah | 12 | 22 | 12.4 |
| (Multan Sultans) | |||
| Rashid Khan | 11 | 20 | 12.9 |
| (Lahore Qalandars) | |||
| Shaheen Afridi | 12 | 19 | 13.8 |
| (Lahore Qalandars) | |||
| Usama Mir | 12 | 17 | 15.1 |
| (Multan Sultans) |
