Lahore
The drafting ceremony for Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) fifth edition is underway in Lahore, with the six franchises announcing the players they have bagged for the upcoming tournament.
Players will be drafted in six different categories: Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver, Emerging and Supplementary.
The highlights of the ceremony were Jason Roy being the first player to be picked in the platinum category and Sharjeel Khan’s return to PSL as part of the Karachi Kings.
Platinum category
In the platinum category, the series’ defending champions Quetta Gladiators bagged England opener Jason Roy, who was the evening’s first platinum pick.
England’s Moeen Ali and South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw were picked by Multan Sultans in their platinum category. South Africa’s Dale Steyn and his compatriot Colin Ingram were bagged by United.
Lahore Qalandars, PSL’s least successful team, picked Chris Lynn in their platinum category. Meanwhile, Karachi Kings chose Alex Hales.
Diamond category
New Zealand’s Colin Munro, who was part of Karachi Kings in PSL’s fourth edition, was Islamabad United’s first diamond pick. Kings’ went for English player Chris Jordan.
England’s Tom Banton was bagged by Peshawar Zalmi, while Quetta Gladiators went for Australia’s Ben Cutting.
Peshawar Zalmi bagged veteran Shoaib Malik, while Multan Sultans picked the evening’s first wild card entry, Zeeshan Ashraf.
Ashraf’s pick enabled the Sultans to pick another diamond player and they went for Ravi Bopara.
Gold category
England’s Samit Patel was bagged by Lahore Qalandars in the gold category, while United picked Rumman Raees. Multan Sultans bagged the experienced Sohail Tanvir.
Karachi Kings’ surprised by picking Sharjeel Khan, who has recently returned from a ban that was slapped for his involvement in a spot-fixing scandal in the PSL tournament in 2017. Their second pick was Cameron Delport.
Liam Dawson was picked by Zalmi, while Fawad Ahmed was retained by the Gladiators.
Silver category
Islamabad United picked Phil Salt and Zafar Gohar in the silver category, while Quetta Gladiators bagged Sohail Khan and Abdul Nasir. The defending champions also retained Tymal Mills in the respective category.
Meanwhile, Peshawar Zalmi picked Mohammad Mohsin, while Khushdil Shah and Usman Qadir — son of the legendary leg-spinner Abdul Qadir — were reigned in by Multan Sultans.
Another player Zalmi went for in the silver category was Rahat Ali.
Sekkugge Prasanna and Ben Dunk were picked by Lahore Qalandars, while Karachi Kings picked Mohammad Rizwan and Umaid Asif. Zahid Mahmood was picked by Kings as well.—Agencies
