History
Wealthy owners, plenty of notable sponsors, but an empty trophy cabinet – This is the story of Lahore Qalandars, owned by Fawad Rana. But what has really hurt their image is putting up underwhelming performances one season after the other. In their first four seasons of the Pakistan Super League, the side finished bottom of the table in the league and it took them five seasons to make their mark but they fell just short of winning the title in 2020. They did not make it to the playoffs last season but produced an impressive performance.
Lack of an attractive quotient in terms of star players has never been a problem for them, but not until 2020 did they find consistency. They aspire to go all the way once again this season, and have roped in some big names yet again. Despite not putting up big performances, the franchise has garnered a lot of fans from their base city.
A small change in leadership is perhaps the biggest of all the talking points from their campaign. Shaheen Shah Afridi, who had a stellar campaign in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, will take up the leadership duties from Sohail Akhtar. He was the deputy to Sohail last season but got an upgrade in the role. It’ll be interesting to see how far will the fast bowler take this unit.
Lahore Qalandars: Pakistan Super League Results With Captains
| Year | Captain | Result |
| 2021 | Sohail Akhtar | 5th place |
| 2020 | Sohail Akhtar | Runners-up |
| 2019 | Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, AB de Villiers | 6th place (bottom of the table) |
| 2018 | Brendon McCullum | 6th place (bottom of the table) |
| 2017 | Brendon McCullum | 5th place (bottom of the table) |
| 2016 | Azhar Ali | 5th place (bottom of the table) |
When the tournament started as a five-team affair back in 2016, the side was led by Azhar Ali and under him, they registered just 2 wins in 8 games, finishing bottom of the table. Their first-ever win in the tournament came against Quetta Gladiators in their third game that season. In the following season, they handed their captaincy responsibilities to Kiwi legend Brendon McCullum, who ended up leading them in the next two seasons, with no great change in fortune.
2019 edition saw a constant change in leadership capacity, but once again, for a staggering fourth season in a row, they finished bottom of the table at the end of the league campaign. Veteran all-rounder Sohail Akhtar was named captain of the franchise in 2020, with the addition of some stellar names like Chris Lynn and Samit Patel, who both played a crucial role in taking the side into the finals.
Lynn finished as their highest run-scorer that season, whilst Afridi got the most wickets as they reached their first-ever final. Babar Azam’s Karachi Kings turned out to be the stumbling block in that edition of the tournament, as they capitulated batting first in that game and Kings picked up their first title.
Last season, despite registering as many wins as the second-placed team in the league (5), they couldn’t make it to the play-offs.
Lahore Qalandars squad for Pakistan Super League 2022
Batters: Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Harry Brook
All–rounders: Sohail Akhtar, Mohammad Hafeez, David Wiese, Samit Patel, Kamran Ghulam, Dean Foxcroft, Mohammad Imran Randhawa
Wicket–keeper: Zeeshan Ashraf, Philip Salt
Bowlers: Shaheen Afridi (C), Haris Rauf, Rashid Khan, Ahmed Daniyal, Maaz Khan, Syed Faridoun, Akif Javed
Philip Salt scored plenty of runs in the Lanka Premier League, and will be a vital cog in Qalandars’ top order. But the player will not be available for the first four games, and will be replaced by Australian opener Ben Dunk, who too was heavily involved in the LPL. However, the player to watch out once again will be Rashid Khan, who had a stellar campaign for the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League, picking up 20 wickets in 11 games before quitting the tournament.
Skipper Afridi will be depending on the experience of Samit Patel and the exuberance of Haris Rauf and Maaz Khan in the bowling department. Samit Patel was the highest wicket-taker in the LPL, picking up 16 wickets.
Lahore Qalandars: PSL 2022 fixtures
| Date & Day | Fixture | Venue | Time (IST) |
| 29 January 2022, Saturday | Multan Sultans vs Lahore Qalandars | National Stadium, Karachi | 2.30 pm |
| 30 January 2022, Sunday | Karachi Kings vs Lahore Qalandars | National Stadium, Karachi | 7.30 pm |
| 2 February 2022, Wednesday | Peshawar Zalmi vs Lahore Qalandars | National Stadium, Karachi | 7.30 pm |
| 5 February 2022, Saturday | Islamabad United vs Lahore Qalandars | National Stadium, Karachi | 2.30 pm |
| 7 February 2022, Monday | Quetta Gladiators vs Lahore Qalandars | National Stadium, Karachi | 7.30 pm |
| 11 February 2022, Friday | Lahore Qalandars vs Multan Sultans | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore | 7.30 pm |
| 13 February 2022, Sunday | Lahore Qalandars vs Quetta Gladiators | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore | 7.30 pm |
| 18 February 2022, Friday | Lahore Qalandars vs Karachi Kings | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore | 7.30 pm |
| 19 February 2022, Saturday | Lahore Qalandars vs Islamabad United | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore | 7.30 pm |
| 21 February 2022, Monday | Lahore Qalandars vs Peshawar Zalmi | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore | 7.30 pm |
Lahore Qalandars: Stats
Batting Stats
Fakhar Zaman has been their most prolific run-scorer in the tournament. He is the only player in the franchise to have scored over 1,000 runs, having piled up 1,351 runs at an average of 127.37 and an impressive strike rate of 133.49. Former skipper Sohail Akhtar has been a terrific contributor in the last few seasons, and has picked up 774 runs since joining them in 2018.
Bowling stats
Skipper Shaheen Afridi leads the bowling charts for the Qalandars. He is the only bowler to have picked up 50 wickets for the franchise and has been a constant threat since making his debut in 2018. Haris Rauf is the next big presence in this bowling unit, having scalped 31 wickets.
Team Stats
The Qalandars have not registered the best of numbers as a team, and their league positions over the years are a testament to it. They went past the 200-run mark only four times over the years, and conceded over 200 runs on five occasions. In the PSL, a match-aggregate of 400 runs or more were registered on 6 occasions, out of which the Qalandars were involved 4 times. They also hold the embarrassing record of the least total in the tournament history, when they got bowled out for 59 in 10.2 overs in 2017.
Lahore Qalandars: Rivalries
| Opponent | Match Played | Won | Lost | Win Percentage (%) |
| Karachi Kings | 13 | 4 | 8 | 34.61% |
| Quetta Gladiators | 12 | 6 | 6 | 50% |
| Multan Sultans | 9 | 4 | 5 | 44.44% |
Karachi Kings
Karachi Kings have produced some heart-breaking blows to the Qalandars over the years. They have a staggering record against the Qalandars, having won 8 times in 13 fixtures, including the 2020 final, which was powered by a captain’s fifty from Babar Azam. Both sides picked up one win each last season.
Quetta Gladiators
The Qalandars have a 50 or more-win percentage against just one team in the PSL, and that is against the Quetta Gladiators. Both sides won 6 games against each other in 12 encounters, and the Gladiators too have made some significant reinforcements to ensure Lahore don’t go one-up against them.
Multan Sultans
The latest addition among the franchises, Multan Sultans have registered five wins against Lahore. What really comes as a disappointment for the Qalandars is that the Sultans too have picked up a PSL trophy, making them the only team involved in the league to have not won it as yet. They produced some juicy encounters last season and can be entrusted to produce a few more this time.
Road ahead for Lahore Qalandars
Keeping all the blasé and star-power aside, the Qalandars are also starting to produce big performances on the field since 2020. There is a great deal of optimism among their supporters and owners that 2022 could be the year where their fortunes turn to good, and their ambitions of laying hands on the trophy could finally be fulfilled. The change in leadership will be a breath of fresh air for the franchise, which could work either way, but the increasing optimism seems to only be driving them forward.
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