The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday announced the category renewals of 89 local players for the 11th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Five players – including Pakistan’s T20I captain Salman Ali Agha, Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali and Abrar Ahmed – have been promoted to the Platinum category.
Going forward, each franchise may retain a maximum of four players, limited to one player per category, the PCB said in a statement. Following completion of retentions, the teams will go into the first-ever PSL Player Auction to complete their team rosters on February 11.
Among the promoted players to Platinum, only Sahibzada was in Gold previously, while others have made the jump from the Diamond category.
Shadab Khan, Naseem Shah, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Babar Azam, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan, Faheem Ashraf, and Mohammad Amir managed to remain in the Platinum category after featuring in the PSL X in the same category as well.
A total of 11 players are in the Diamond category, which includes three from Quetta Gladiators, three from Multan Sultans, two from Lahore Qalandars and Karachi Kings each, one from Peshawar Zalmi and none from Islamabad United.
Mohammad Salman Mirza, Sufyan Moqim, and Mohammad Wasim Jnr are the two players who have jumped up from Gold to Diamond.
Among the 32 players assigned Gold this year, four each are from Islamabad United and Lahore Qalandars, eight from Karachi Kings, six are from Peshawar Zalmi, and five each from Multan Sultans and Quetta Gladiators.
Moreover, Multan Sultans have seven players in the Silver category, Lahore Qalandars have three, Peshawar Zalmi and Islamabad United two each, followed by one each from Quetta Gladiators and Karachi Kings.
Emerging category comprises of 14 players with three each listed in Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, Peshawar Zalmi, two each in Quetta Gladiators and Multan Sultans and one from Lahore Qalandars.
Hunain Shah, Ubaid Shah, Mirza Mamoon Imtiaz, Mohammad Naeem and Mohammad Azab are the players who have made the move from Emerging to Silver for the upcoming season, while Hasan Nawaz went to Gold after featuring in the PSL X in the Emerging category.
Local category renewals
(team-wise):
Islamabad United – Shadab Khan, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Imad Wasim (all Platinum), Azam Khan, Haider Ali, Salman Irshad, Rumman Raees (all Gold), Mohammad Faiq, Hunain Shah (both Silver), Saad Masood, Mohammad Shahzad, Mohammad Ghazi Ghori (all Emerging).
Karachi Kings – Hasan Ali (Platinum), Mohmmad Abbas Afridi, Shan Masood (both Diamond), Khushdil Shah, Aamir Jamal, Mohammad Irfan Khan, Mir Hamza, Zahid Mehmood, Omair Bin Yousuf, Shahnawaz Dahani, Arafat Minhas (all Gold), Mirza Mamoon Imtiaz (Silver), Muhammad Riazullah, Fawad Ali, Saad Baig (all Emerging).
Lahore Qalandars – Shaheen Shah Afridi, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf (all Platinum), Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Salman Mirza (both Diamond), Zaman Khan, Jahandad Khan, Asif Afridi, Asif Ali (all Gold), Muhammad Akhlaq, Mohammad Naeem, Mohammad Azab (all Silver), Momin Qamar (Emerging).
Multan Sultans – Mohammad Rizwan (Platinum), Usama Mir, Iftikhar Ahmed, Usman Khan (all Diamond), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Faisal Akram, Akif Javed, Tayyab Tahir (all Gold), Yasir Khan, Muhammad Amir Barki, Mohammad Junaid, Humayun Altaf, Ali Imran, Jahanzaib Sultan, Ubaid Shah (all Silver), Shahid Aziz, Mohammad Zulkifal (both Emerging).
Peshawar Zalmi – Babar Azam, Saim Ayub (both Platinum), Sufyan Moqim (Diamond), Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Ali, Abdul Samad, Hussain Talat, Ahmed Daniyal, Ihsanullah (all Gold), Arif Yaqoob and Mehran Mumtaz (both Silver), Abdullah Fazal, Ali Raza, Maaz Sadaqat (all Emerging).
Quetta Gladiators – Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Amir, Abrar Ahmed (all Platinum), Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Usman Tariq (all Diamond), Khurram Shahzad, Haseebullah Khan, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay, Hasan Nawaz, Danish Aziz (all Gold), Ali Majid (Silver), Mohammad Zeeshan, Shamyl Hussain (both Emerging).