PSL players drafting starts in Lahore

Mohammed Amir, who impressed with his exploits in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), was picked by Karachi Kings.

Shahid Afridi (Peshawar Zalmi), Shoaib Malik (Karachi Kings), Shane Watson (Islamabad United), Kevin Pietersen (Quetta Gladiators) and Chris Gayle (Lahore Qalandars) were the first five selections for their respective teams as the five icon players with each player earning the maximum US$200,000.

After the first picks, Misbah-ul-Haq and Andre Russell were picked by Islamabad while Lahore made a decision to bag Dwayne Bravo.

By the end of the Platinum round of the draft, Peshawar picked fast bowler Wahab Riaz and Darren Sammy to complete their three picks from the category.

Islamabad again selected to copmlete the round, as a result of their earlier trade that swapped their third round selection for Peshawar’s second round pick. Sohail Tanvir, Shakib al Hasan and Ravi Bopara of England were also picked by “Karachi Kings”. Hafeez will be relieved that he was picked by Peshawar and wouldn’t have to play with Amir after publicly taking a stance against the pacer. The teams had to pick three players each from the Platinum, Diamond and Gold categories, with a minimum of four Pakistanis and four foreigners. The franchise rights for five teams were sold for United States dollars 93 million.

PCB said that 171 foreign and 137 domestic players would be available for drafting by teams, adding that the players were divided into five different categories – Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver, and Emerging.

Five teams will play a total 24 matches from February 4 to February 23 in Sharjah and Dubai.