LAHORE: The players draft for the Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) third edition was held here on Sunday. A total of 501 foreign and local cricketers were available for selection at the draft. The six teams that form the league had previously retained nine players each and went into the draft to pick one platinum, one diamond, one gold, two silver and two emerging players each in order to complete their squads of 16. The teams also had the option of picking up to four players in the supplementary rounds. Each team had a salary cap of $1.2 million for a squad of 20 players. Speaking at the occasion, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi congratulated the six franchises that would participate in the event and thanked them for helping enable the return of top-tier international cricket to Pakistani soil.
In the Platinum category, Islamabad United successfully bid for South African all-rounder JP Duminy. Karachi Kings picked batsman Colin Ingram, also from South Africa. Lahore Qalandars picked Australian batsman Chris Lynn, Quetta Gladiators drafted Shane Watson, an all-rounder from Australia, Peshawar Zalmi drafted West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo while Multan Sultans picked South African spin-bowler Imran Tahir. In the Diamond category, Lahore picked Bangladesh bowler Mustafizur Rehman, Islamabad picked New Zealand batsman Luke Ronchi, Karachi drafted Australian pace bowler Mitchell Johnson, Quetta drafted West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite, Peshawar drafted Bangladesh batsman Tamim Iqbal and Multan picked West Indies batsman Darren Bravo.
The complete squads of the six teams participating in the PSL third edition:
Multan Sultans: Shoaib Malik, Kieron Pollard, Kumar Sangakkara, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Sohaib Maqsood, Irfan Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Imran Tahir, Darren Bravo, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Abbas, Nic Pooran, Abdullah Shafiq, Saif Badar. Supplementary players: Hardus Viljoen, Umar Gul, Umar Siddiq, Ross Whiteley.
Peshawar Zalmi: Mohammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, Shakib al Hasan, Kamran Akmal, Darren Sammy, Hasan Ali, Haris Sohail, Chris Jordan, Mohammad Asghar, Dwayne Bravo, Tamim Iqbal, Hammad Azam, Saad Nasim, Taimoor Sultan, Sameen Gul, Ibtisam Sheikh. Supplementary players: Andre Fletcher, Evin Lewis, Khalid Usman, Mohammad Arif.
Karachi Kings: Shahid Afridi, Usman Khan, Usama Mir, Khurram Manzoor, Ravi Bopara, Imad Wasim, Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Colin Ingram, Mitchell Johnson, Luke Wright, David Wiese, Tabish Khan, Mohammad Irfan Jnr, Hasan Mohsin. Supplementary players: Colin Munro, Eoin Morgan, Saifullah Bangash.
Lahore Qalandars: Umar Akmal, Sunil Narine, Brendon McCullum, Fakhar Zaman, Yasir Shah, Cameron Delport, Aamer Yamin, Bilawal Bhatti, Sohail Khan, Chris Lynn, Mustafizur Rahman, Bilal Asif, Raza Hasan, Sohail Akhtar, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Ghulam Mudassar. Supplementary players: Angelo Mathews, Mitchell McClenaghan, Gulraiz Sadaf.
Islamabad United: Mohammad Sami, Andre Russell, Rumman Raees, Shadab Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Samuel Badree, Iftikhar Ahmed, Amad Butt, Asif Ali, JP Duminy, Luke Ronchi, Faheem Ashraf, Sam Billings, Zafar Gohar, Sahibzada Farhan, Hussain Talat. Supplementary players: Alex Hales, David Willey, Mohammad Hasan, Mohammad Hasnain.
Quetta Gladiators: Sarfraz Ahmed, Kevin Pietersen, Rilee Rossouw, Mohammad Nawaz, Anwar Ali, Mahmudullah, Umar Amin, Mir Hamza, Asad Shafiq, Shane Watson, Carlos Brathwaite, Rahat Ali, Rameez Raja jnr, Saad Ali, Saud Shakeel, Hassan Khan. Supplementary players: Jason Roy, Rashid Khan, Azam Khan, Faraz Ahmed Khan.
Published in Daily Times, November 13th 2017.