Daily Times

Left-arm fast-bowler Usman Shinwari has become the first player to be transferred for the Habib Bank Limited (HBL) Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 as he moves from Karachi Kings to Lahore Qalandars. Usman was one of the players who had agreed to drop one category through the relegation request process for the event, whose all 34 matches will be played in Pakistan in February and March. As per the event regulations, when a team sends in a relegation request for their local player to drop down one category, it is shared with the other teams based on the player’s consent. The other five teams can then either match the player’s original category or allow him to relegate on his existing team’s roster.

Based on the teams’ expression of interests, the player’s existing team is then given time to either retain the player in his original category or release him to the team willing to match the player’s registered category. In this instance, Lahore Qalandars matched Usman Shinwari’s relegation request resulting in his transfer to the Qalandars for HBL PSL 2020. Five other players who have successfully relegated as a result of this relegation request process are: Imamul Haq (Peshawar Zalmi, diamond to gold), Junaid Khan (Multan Sultans, diamond to gold), Salman Butt (Lahore Qalandars, gold to silver), Shan Masood (Multan Sultans, gold to silver) and Umar Amin (Peshawar Zalmi, gold to silver). Usman missed the inaugural 2016 event but represented Karachi Kings in the subsequent editions. The transfer/retention window opened on November 4 and closes on December 1 with each team allowed to retain up to eight players from last season.