The league stage of the tournament ran from 22 February to 16 March 2018.
Summary Week 1 The month long tournament began on 22 February between the defending champions,
Peshawar Zalmi and the new team the
Multan Sultans. Peshawar batted first and, despite losing a wicket in the second over, went on to score 151/6 with
Mohammed Hafeez top-scoring with 59 runs. The Sultans chased the score down, losing just 3 wickets, giving them a 7 wicket win, and winning on their PSL debut. The first double-header of the group stage saw wins for Karachi and Multan by 19 and 43 runs respectively. The Multan win brought up an interesting stat which was that both of the first two
PSL hat tricks took place in
Dubai, on a Friday, under
Shoaib Malik's captaincy, against the
Lahore Qalandars. The next four games were all one-sided; in the first the defending champions Peshawar restricted Islamabad to 149/9 from Islamabad's 20 overs, to get their first win of the tournament with
Umaid Asif taking a 4-fer (4 wicket haul) on debut for Zalmi. On the same day, the Quetta Gladiators quickly chased down 119 inside 14 overs against the Lahore Qalandars. In the sixth game, the Multan Sultans' winning run came to an end against Islamabad United. In the game, the Sultans were all out for 113 with United winning by 5 wickets. In the next game despite
Dwayne Smith's 71 not out, the Karachi Kings chased down 131 to beat Peshawar by 5 wickets. At Dubai, the
rivals Lahore and Karachi faced off, Lahore's poor form continued as they lost their third consecutive game in the tournament with Karachi winning by 27 runs and
Shahid Afridi taking 3-19. In the final game of week 1, which was the first game of the tournament in
Sharjah, the Gladiators won comfortably by 6 wickets against Islamabad.
Week 2 The second week began dramatically, with Peshawar having a batting collapse to fall to 125/5 in their innings against the Quetta Gladiators in Sharjah. In next the Zalmi captain
Daren Sammy, who was earlier taken off with an injury, came out and hit two sixes and a four to get Zalmi a win. After game 11 between Multan and Karachi in Sharjah was abandoned at the toss, the other game on the day was also hosted at Sharjah. The game between Lahore and Islamabad was the first in PSL history at that point, to finish with a
super over as both teams were tied on 121. In Lahore's over they finished with 15/1, while in Islamabad's over they got 19 winning the game with a last ball 6. The game after was more straightforward, with an
Imran Tahir hat-trick downing Quetta and giving Multan the win. The game after made history as the first ever 10 wicket win in the PSL, as Peshawar Zalmi chased down 101 without losing a wicket. The next day, Islamabad United beat Karachi Kings by 8 wickets with help from a
Luke Ronchi 71. On the same day, a
Sohaib Maqsood* carried the Multan Sultans' to another win against Peshawar Zalmi, this time by 19 runs. The day after
Umar Gul rolled back the years taking 6/24 for the Multan Sultans', but the effort was in vain as the then
Pakistan under 19 captain Hasan Khan hit a last over 6 to give Quetta a 2 wicket win. The last day of week 2 saw a double-header, with both games being played at
Dubai. In the first game a
Luke Ronchi 77 helped Islamabad beat Lahore by 6 wickets, while in the second game Quetta beat Karachi by 67 runs. This was at the time the biggest win by runs in PSL history.
Week 3 Week 3 started with a Lahore win, as future Pakistan international
Shaheen Shah Afridi took 5/4 in his 3.4 overs against the
Multan Sultans. In game 21 despite 3/30 and 33 not out from
Wahab Riaz,
Islamabad United beat
Peshawar Zalmi by 26 runs taking Islamabad to the top of the table. The day after was a double header, with a
Joe Denly 78 from 55 balls helping the
Karachi Kings to a comfortable win over Multan by 63 runs. The second game of the day involved Peshawar and Quetta, with a
Sarfaraz Ahmed 45
* guiding Quetta home with 6 wickets to spare and eliminating Lahore in the process. A
super over was needed again to separate Lahore and Karachi with them both being tied 163 after both of their
20 overs, in the end though
Sunil Narine held his nerve to give Lahore their second win of the season. A crucial encounter followed 2 days later, with Islamabad and Multan facing off at
Sharjah Cricket Stadium. In the end though despite 73 off 47 from
Kieron Pollard, Islamabad won by 33 runs meaning that they and Quetta both advanced to the playoffs. In game 26, Lahore continued their winning run against Quetta thanks to 94 off 50 from
Fakhar Zaman. The next day, Peshawar beat Karachi helped by 75 by
Kamran Akmal and 3/17 from
Liam Dawson keeping Peshawar in the tournament. Islamabad continued their winning run in game 28, ensuring that they finished at the top of the table by beating Quetta by 6 wickets.
Week 4 Week 4 only consisted of two games as the tournament moved from the League stage to the knockouts, in the penultimate game the
Lahore Qalandars scored 172 in their innings against Peshawar. In response
Kamran Akmal scored his 2nd century in the PSL becoming the first player to score two centuries in the history of the tournament, and guiding Peshawar into the playoffs with a win. While in the final game taking place on the same day
Islamabad United collapsed to 121, allowing the
Karachi Kings to claim a playoff spot and eliminate the
Multan Sultans in the process.
Table of results League progression ==Fixtures==