By Syed Mahmood Sherazi
LAHORE MIRROR — The franchises of the ninth edition of the much-awaited Pakistan Super League (PSL) on Wednesday finalised their squads after the players’ draft concluded on Wednesday.
The event, held at Lahore’s National Cricket Academy (NCA), was attended by team owners, coaches, and top Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials including board’s Management Committee Chairman Zaka Ashraf.
Australian all-rounder Daniel Sams is set to make his HBL PSL debut, after he was picked up by Karachi Kings in the Platinum round. Also making their debuts in the HBL PSL are the South African duo of Reeza Hendricks (Multan Sultans, Gold) and Lungi Ngidi (Peshawar Zalmi, Supplementary).
David Willey was the first pick of the evening, as Multan Sultans cashed in their first pick in the Platinum round. The English all-rounder has 270 wickets and 3,720 runs in the T20 format. Peshawar Zalmi picked Noor Ahmad, the Afghanistan spinner, to strengthen their bowling ranks. The 18-year old had 74 T20 wickets.
Islamabad United used their wildcard to pick the Jordan Cox. The English wicketkeeper-batter has 1,798 T20 runs.
Sherfane Rutherford (West Indies) and Mohammad Amir were Quetta Gladiators’ two Platinum picks. The West Indies middle-order batter has 1,753 runs. Amir, with 303 T20 scalps to his name, will be boosting Gladiators’ bowling attack.
Karachi Kings used their first round Platinum pick to secure Kieron Pollard. The West Indies all-rounder has a record tally of 12,390 runs and 312 wickets in the shortest format. Karachi’s next pick was Daniel Sams, who has taken 179 wickets and has scored 1,699 runs in the shortest format. Pakistan left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz was Karachi’s final pick in Platinum.
Fakhar Zaman was once again Lahore Qalandars’ first pick in Platinum. The left-handed batter has been prolific for Lahore, and was the team’s top run-getter in the last two editions of PSL. South African batter Rassie van der Dussen was Lahore’s final pick in the Platinum round. He has thus far amassed 4,680 T20 runs.
Sahibzada Farhan, who headlined the National T20 Cup 2023-24 as the top run-getter, was secured by Lahore Qalandars in the Diamond round. Sahibzada will join the ranks of Fakhar Zaman and Abdullah Shafique to strengthen the team’s top-order. England’s Dawid Malan (Multan Sultans) and Tymal Mills (Islamabad United), New Zealand’s Tim Seifert (Karachi Kings) and Asif Ali (Peshawar Zalmi) were the other Diamond picks.
Multan Sultans picked Reeza Hendricks, the South African top-order batter, in the Gold category. He has an impressive tally of 5,489 T20 runs and is currently ranked No. 8 on the ICC T20I rankings. The ninth best bowler in the world, West Indies spinner Akeal Hosein, was picked by Quetta Gladiators in the Supplementary round.
Lahore Qalandars chose Salman Irshad as their first silver round pic but Peshawar Zalmi used RTM to retain the fast bowler. Similarly, Omair Bin Yousuf was picked up by Islamabad United, but Quetta Gladiators used RTM to retain the young top-order batter.
Full squads:
Karachi Kings — James Vince (England), Hasan Ali, Tim Seifert (New Zealand) (all Diamond), Shan Masood (Brand Ambassador), Shoaib Malik (Mentor), Tabraiz Shamsi (South Africa) (all Gold), Mir Hamza (Successful relegation request), Muhammad Akhlaq, Mohammad Amir Khan, Anwar Ali and Arafat Minhas (all Silver), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Sirajuddin (both Emerging), Saad Baig and Jamie Overton (England) (both Supplementary)
Quetta Gladiators — Rilee Rossouw (South Africa), Sherfane Rutherford (West Indies), Mohammad Amir (Platinum), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Jason Roy (England), Wanindu Hasaranga (Sri Lanka) (all Diamond), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Brand Ambassador) Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Hasnain (all Gold), Will Smeed (England), Saud Shakeel, Sajjad Ali Jnr, Usman Qadir, Omair Bin Yousuf (all Silver), Adil Naz, Khawaja Nafay (both Emerging), Akeal Hosein (West Indies) and Sohail Khan (both Supplementary)
Peshawar Zalmi — Babar Azam, Rovman Powell (West Indies), Noor Ahmad (Afghanistan) (all Platinum), Saim Ayub, Tom Kohler-Cadmore (England), Asif Ali (all Diamond), Mohammad Haris (Brand Ambassador), Aamir Jamal, Naveen-ul-Haq (Afghanistan) (all Gold), Khurram Shahzad, Salman Irshad, Arif Yaqoob, Umair Afridi, Daniel Mousley (England) (Silver), Haseebullah, Mohammad Zeeshan (both Emerging), Lungi Ngidi (South Africa) and Mehran Mumtaz (both Supplementary)
Multan Sultans — Mohammad Rizwan, David Willey, Iftikhar Ahmed, Dawid Malan, Khushdil Shah, Usama Mir, Reeza Hendricks, Reece Topley, Abbas Afridi, Tayyab Tahir, Shahnawaz Dahani, Mohammad Ali, Usman Khan, Ihsanullah, Faisal Akram, Yasir Khan, Chris Jordan, and Aftab Ibrahim.
Lahore Qalandars — Fakhar Zaman, Rassie Van der Dussen, Shaheen Afridi, Sahibzada Farhan, Haris Rauf, David Wiese, Sikandar Raza, Abdullah Shafique, Zaman Khan, Imran Jr, Ahsan Hafeez Bhatti, Dan Lawrence, Mirza Tahir Baig, Rashid Khan, Syed Faridoun Mahmood, Jahandad Khan, Shai Hope, and Kamran Ghulam.
Islamabad United — Jordan Cox, Naseem Shah, Shadab Khan, Tymal Mills, Azam Khan, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf, Alex Hales, Colin Munro, Matthew Forde, Salman Ali Agha, Qasim Akram, Shahab Khan, Rumman Raees, Hunain Shah, Ubaid Shah, Shamyl Hussain, and Tom Curran.
