LAHORE – The drafting ceremony for the upcoming edition of Pakistan Super League 3 took place in Lahore on Sunday with national and international cricketers available for teams to be picked up in their squads.
The prestigious ceremony started with the address of Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Najam Sethi at the National Cricket Stadium.
Sethi, who is credited for the return of international cricket in the country expressed that it was a matter of pride that the drafting of the third PSL edition was taking place today.
‘This is the league that will bring cricket back home,’ said Sethi, adding that the lineup of players this time around is better than ever before.
The PCB chief also said that they are trying their best that PSL matches are also held in Karachi this year, along with Lahore and the UAE.
All the franchises, Lahore Qalandars, Quetta Gladiators, Karachi Kings, Islamabad United, Peshawar Zalmi and first-time entrant Multan Sultans, selected their players.
All-rounder Shoaib Malik was appointed as the captain of Multan Sultans with Tom Moody as the head coach of the team.
Platinum category
- Lahore Qalandars have picked Australian batsman Chris Lynn in the category.
- Islamabad United have successfully bid for South African all-rounder JP Duminy in the platinum category.
- Karachi Kings have picked batsman Colin Ingram, also from South Africa.
- Quetta Gladiators have drafted Shane Watson, an all-rounder from Australia.
- Peshawar Zalmi have drafted West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo.
- Multan Sultans have picked South African spin-bowler Imran Tahir.
Diamond category
- Lahore Qalandars have picked Bangladesh bowler Mustafizur Rehman in the diamond category.
- Islamabad United have picked New Zealand batsman Luke Ronchi.
- Karachi Kings have drafted Australian pace bowler Mitchell Johnson.
- Quetta Gladiators have drafted West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite.
- Peshawar Zalmi have drafted Bangladesh batsman Tamim Iqbal.
- Multan Sultans have picked West Indies batsman Darren Bravo.
Gold category
- Peshawar Zalmi have picked all-rounder Hammad Azam.
- Islamabad United have picked batsman Faheem Ashraf.
- Quetta Gladiators have picked pacer Rahat Ali.
- Lahore Qalandars have picked all-rounder Bilal Asif.
- Karachi Kings have picked English pacer Luke Wright.
- Multan Sultans have picked batsman Ahmed Shehzad.
Silver category (two players to each team)
- Lahore Qalandars have picked spin bowler Raza Hasan and all-rounder Sohail Akhtar in the silver category.
- Islamabad United have picked England wicket-keeper/batsman Sam Billings and batsman Zafar Gohar.
- Peshawar Zalmi have picked all-rounder Saad Nasim and batsman Taimur Sultan.
- Quetta Gladiators have picked batsmen Rameez Raja Jr and Saad Ali.
- Karachi Kings have drafted South African all-rounder David Wiese and Tabish Khan, also an all-rounder.
- Multan Sultans have picked pacer Mohammad Abbas and West Indies wicket-keeper batsman Nicholas Pooran.
Emerging Players category (two players to each team)
- Lahore Qalandars pick young pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, retained pacer Ghulam Mudassar.
- Islamabad United have picked batsman Sahibzada Farhan, retained batsman Hussain Talat.
- Karachi Kings have picked all-rounder Mohammad Irfan Jr, retained pacer Hasan Mohsin.
- Quetta Gladiators have drafted all-rounder Saud Shakeel and retained spin bowler Hasan Khan.
- Peshawar Zalmi have picked pacer Sameen Gul and all-rounder Ibtisam Sheikh.
- Multan Sultans have picked batsman Abdullah Shafiq and all-rounder Saif Badar.
Supplementary draft
- Lahore Qalandars picked Angelo Mathews, Mitchell McClenaghan and Gulraiz Sadar.
- Islamabad United picked Alex Hales, David Willey, Mohammad Hasan and Mohammad Hasnain.
- Karachi Kings drafted Colin Munro, Eoin Morgan and Saifullah Bangash.
- Quetta chose Jason Roy, Rashid Khan, Azam Khan and Faraz Ahmed Khan.
- Peshawar Zalmi took a bet on Andre Fletcher, Evin Lewis, Khalid Usman and Mohammad Arif.
- Multan Sultans picked Hardus Viljoen, Umar Gul, Umar Sadique and Ross Whiteley.
(Franchises can call upon supplementary players in case players they have picked become unavailable)
Speaking at the occasion, the PCB chairman also announced that the semi finals of the league will be played in Lahore, but that there is “a commitment to try our best to host the PSL 3 final in Karachi”. Najam Sethi said that he has been assured that Karachi’s National Stadium will be refurbished and made ready in time for the March finale of the series.
Speaking at the occasion, Ali Naqvi, owner of Islamabad United, expressed his happiness at the occasion and promised to pick a “good team”. Waqar Younis, the balling coach of the team, said the team “would not repeat its mistakes”, maintain a top ranking and aim to take the tournament trophy home.
Peshawar Zalmi’s Javed Afridi said the side would be on the lookout for new talent. His team had earlier decided to retain Darren Sammy as its captain for the next edition of the league.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znofNSKmbW0
