LAHORE: The nineth edition of the Pakistan Super League, which kicks off on February 17, has six squads, plus a few extra and replacement players. The Replacement Draft was held on a conference call on Monday.
Waqar Salamkheil was selected in the silver category by Peshawar Zalmi, who revealed their replacements. Lungi Ngidi was not able to play the entire season after being selected in the PSL Draft in December. In the silver division, pacer Arshad Iqbal has been named as Khurram Shahzad’s successor. Shahzad is a fast bowler. Due to international obligations, Noor Ahmed will be replaced by Gus Atkinson for Peshawar Zalmi; in the meanwhile, they have saved their best choice to replace Naveen ul Haq, who is only partially available.
Rashid Khan, who is completely unavailable, and Dan Lawrence, who is only partially accessible to the franchise, were the picks that Lahore Qalandars held back.
Tom Curran, who won’t be playing in this PSL season, was also Islamabad United’s reserve selection. In order to partially replace Kieron Pollard, the Karachi Kings have called up Zahid Mehmood. They have also saved their pick for Tim Seifert, who will be available following the completion of the New Zealand T20Is.
Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri Lanka will be replaced by Bismillah Khan of the Quetta Gladiators for the event as Hasaranga would be absent due to international obligations.
Left-arm pacers Luke Wood and Obed McCoy were selected by Peshawar Zalmi and Islamabad United, respectively, in the first and second picks of the third extra round.
The fourth pick went to Lahore Qalandars, who selected Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who played for Peshawar Zalmi in the previous PSL season. The third pick went to Karachi Kings, who selected English middle-order hitter Leus De Plooy.
With the fifth pick in the third extra round, Multan Sultans selected Johnson Charles, a seasoned West Indian wicketkeeper-batter who had played for both the Sultans and Quetta Gladiators in prior PSL seasons.
Using their final selection in round three, the Quetta Gladiators selected English batter Laurie Evans. Evans has previously played in one PSL season for Multan Sultans in the 2019 competition.
Sultans selected the intriguing Muhammad Shahzad, 19, in the fourth round of the Supplementary selections. Shahzad competed for Pakistan U19 at the ICC Men’s U19 World Cup in 2022.
With Islamabad being his third franchise, Haider Ali was selected for the Islamabad United squad. The batter is expected to play in his fifth PSL season.
The fourth round pick was reserved by the Quetta Gladiators. With their fourth selection of the draft, Peshawar Zalmi selected Sufiyan Muqeem, a left-arm wrist spinner who played for the same squad in the previous PSL season. Lahore Qalandars selected Tayyab Abbas, a graduate of their player development program, with the fifth pick of this round. Muhammad Rohid, a 21-year-old, was selected by the Karachi Kings to join their team.
