Daily Times

LAHORE: In a major trade before the formal drafts of Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) third edition, former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi’s move from Peshawar Zalmi to Karachi Kings as a player was finalised on Tuesday. Shahid, who helped his team to victory in PSL’s second edition, will now play for Karachi. He had already joined Karachi Kings as its president soon after the league’s second edition ended earlier this year. According to the deal finalised between the two franchises, Peshawar will swap its picks in the gold and silver categories with Karachi. Karachi have the third pick in both the categories while Peshawar have fifth since PSL draft rules are such that the team which came last gets the first pick in all categories and Peshawar had returned as the winners last year.

“Shahid is a world-class player and the entire Peshawar family thanks him for his contributions to our team,” Javed Afridi, the owner of Peshawar said. “He is like a brother and we wish him the very best of luck in this new journey.” Karachi owner Salman Iqbal said: “Shahid is the biggest name in Pakistan cricket and we are extremely pleased to have him on board. Shahid brings a wealth of experience and a never-say-die attitude to our dressing room,” he added. Despite retiring from international cricket, Shahid has performed surprisingly well in the recently held Natwest T20 Blast, also scoring a century off only 42 balls proving he still has the firepower he is famous for. The drafts for PSL’s third season are expected mid-October for all categories except emerging category, with the emerging category drafts expected in January.

Published in Daily Times, October 4^th 2017.