2022 Kashmir Premier League (Pakistan)

The 2022 Kashmir Premier League (also known as 2022 KPL or, for sponsorship reasons, Kingdom Valley KPL 2022) was the second season of the Kashmir Premier League, a cricket league which was established by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in 2021.

This season saw the expansion of the KPL from 6 teams to 7 teams. After the end of the first edition of the KPL, it was announced that there would be a seventh team added for the 2022 edition. An eighth franchise was also established for Gilgit-Baltistan but the team was removed from the tournament for unknown reasons. The KPL management held talks to hold the playoffs and final of the 2022 KPL in England but were unsuccessful. The tournament was originally scheduled to take place from 1 August to 14 August but it was rescheduled out of respect for Muharram. The draft was held on 21 July 2022. Rawalakot Hawks were the defending champions until they were knocked out in the group stage.

Marketing
The 2022 KPL was promoted on social media using the hashtag #KheloAazadiSe, similar to its previous edition. Shahid Afridi was signed as brand ambassador for the 2022 KPL and the official singers were Sahir Ali Bagga and Aima Baig.

Anthem
The official anthem of the 2022 KPL, “Khelo Aazadi Se” was released on 29 July 2022 and it was sung by Sahir Ali Bagga and Aima Baig.

Media personnels
The KPL announced the media personnels on Twitter on 12 August 2022.

Commentary Panel

 * Aamir Sohail


 * Daryll Cullinan


 * HD Ackerman


 * Marina Iqbal


 * Nick Compton


 * Waqar Younis

Presenters

 * Hijab Zahid


 * Sikander Bakht

Venue
The whole tournament took place in Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir.

Umpires

 * Aleem Dar
 * Ahsan Raza
 * Asif Yaqoob
 * Rashid Riaz
 * Faisal Afridi
 * Shozab Raza
 * Waleed Yaqub
 * Imtiaz Iqbal
 * Imran Javed
 * Saqib Khan
 * Ghaffar Kazmi
 * Nasir Hussain
 * Sajid Afridi
 * Aaley Haider
 * Mohammad Asif
 * Zameer Haider
 * Qaiser Waheed
 * Aftab Gillani
 * Ahmed Shahab
 * Majid Hussain

Fixtures
The schedule for the tournament was announced on 1 August 2022.

Most runs

 * Source: Cricinfo

Most wickets

 * Source: Cricinfo

Controversies
Four franchises of the KPL (Bagh Stallions, Mirpur Royals, Muzaffarabad Tigers and Rawalakot Hawks) wrote a letter to the PCB, requesting that the PCB withhold the NOC for the 2022 KPL. They cited the tournament management’s inefficiency to handle all of the matters properly. The main concerns were that an audit report was not provided for the first season and a league committee was not formed despite this being included in their agreement. The PCB also said that they would issue a NOC if certain conditions were met. The PCB later issued an NOC after the KPL provided all the requested documents. A league committee was also formed on 7 July 2022.

In August 2022, Nasir Yusuf, one of the co-owners of Kotli Lions, filed a petition in the Sindh High Court that Faisal Nadeem and Khalid Zia, the other co-owners of Kotli Lions, had sidelined him from the team. Yusuf’s lawyer said that Nadeem and Zia had overtaken the team and had not contacted Yusuf. They said that Kotli Lions should be barred from participating in the tournament without Yusuf's permission. Faisal Nadeem, Khalid Zia, President of the KPL, Arif Malik, CEO of the KPL, Chaudhry Shahzad Akhtar and Vice-president of the KPL, Wasim Akram were all issued notices for 15 August from the court.

During the 2022 KPL, the KPL terminated Kotli Lions’ management after they weren’t able to pay outstanding payments. Kotli Lions’ head coach Saeed Azad left the team and was replaced by Mushtaq Ahmed. The KPL management temporarily took over Kotli Lions. The KPL also terminated the Overseas Warriors’ management after they were unable to pay their players. Zeeshan Altaf Lohya was later given ownership of Overseas Warriors.

In January 2023, the KPL management sent a legal notice to Kingdom Valley, sponsors of the 2022 KPL, for not paying the agreed amounts to the KPL. The KPL management claimed that Kingdom Valley still had to pay ₨137 million. The KPL also claimed that the KPL still had to pay players ₨90 million which they could only pay after receiving payments from sponsors. The owner of Kingdom Valley, Ghulam Hussain Shahid, claimed that the KPL had begged him to sponsor the tournament and had asked him to pay ₨40 million in advance and to pay the rest whenever he wanted. He also claimed that he had to pay all government taxes while the KPL paid none. In May 2023, Dawn reported that a number of umpires in the 2022 KPL had still not received their payments. A KPL spokesperson said that these payments had not been made due to huge losses incurred from the tournament but would be cleared soon.

Criticism
During the 2022 KPL, many of the league matches and all of the playoff matches were abandoned due to rain. Ghulam Hussain Shahid, the owner of Jammu Janbaz, criticised the KPL management and he said that the weather should have been considered prior to setting the dates of the tournament. Shahid said that the rain ruined the business end of the tournament and that the tournament should have taken place in Rawalpindi or Lahore as the stadiums there have proper infrastructure and the weather there would have been more suitable to play cricket. He said that he would work with the KPL management next year to improve the tournament.