Gaddafi Stadium witnessed an unbelievable moment last Sunday night, when a local boy who once collected balls outside the boundary 20 years ago lifted the Pakistan Super League (PSL) trophy in the same stadium.

To witness this historic moment, the largest crowd in Pakistan’s cricket history was recorded, as 32,461 fans joined the celebration in which Babar Azam, the captain of Peshawar Zalmi, was crowned for the first time in his PSL captaincy tenure.

A sea of yellow was seen in the stands to support Peshawar Zalmi but, deep down, everyone knew that this crowd had turned up in strong support for primarily one player. And that player was Babar Azam.

This season has been an absolute dream for Peshawar Zalmi, where they faced only one defeat — that too in their last group stage game, which was a dead rubber for them. Other than that, everything Zalmi did worked in its favour. The awards ceremony after the final was evidence of it, with five of the seven individual awards going to its players.

After over five weeks of interesting clashes and fine performances from so many players, the Pakistan Super League 11 has concluded with Peshawar Zalmi and Babar Azam lifting the crown. Here’s looking back at some of the biggest takeaways from the tournament…

After over five weeks of interesting clashes and fine performances from so many players, the Pakistan Super League 11 has concluded with Peshawar Zalmi and Babar Azam lifting the crown. Here’s looking back at some of the biggest takeaways from the tournament…

It was not a season where only one or two performances or a couple of players took Peshawar Zalmi to the next stage. All of their key players performed. Despite a couple of their key pacers from Bangladesh returning to their country for national duty halfway through the tournament, this didn’t hurt........

© Dawn (Magazines)