PSL Draft: Pollard, McLaren to join Gayle-powered Karachi Kings

West Indies hard hitter Kieron Pollard and South African all-rounder Ryan McLaren were selected to play for an already strong Karachi Kings team in the 2017 edition of Pakistan Super League Twenty 20, ARY News reported.

As the drafting started on Wednesday, Karachi Kings chose the power players Chris Gayle, Kumar Sangakkara and Babar Azam as it announced earlier this month while Karachi’s talented batsman Khurram Manzoor and Hyderabad’s Kashif Bhatti were fresh picks.

The franchise retained Shoaib Malik, Muhammad Amir, Sohail Khan, Shahzeb Hasan, Saifullah Bangash,  Imad Wasim and England’s Ravi Bopara in its squad.

Emerging Players

Abrar Ahmed and Abdul Hameed were selected in the emerging players draft.

Supplementary Players

Sri Lankan great Mahela Jayawardene,  Sialkot born all-rounder Usama Mir, Aamad Alam and fast bowler Rahat Ali were selected as supplementary players.

 

#HBLPSLDraft #KarachiKings @Salman_ARY @thePSLt20 @ravibopara @realshoaibmalik @simadwasim @Jerjees @Fayaz_G @yasar50 @MickeyArthur2 #PSL pic.twitter.com/D86GTygJDK

— Karachi Kings (@KarachiKingsARY) October 19, 2016

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‘Babar Azam, Gayle and Sangakkara to join Karachi Kings in next PSL’

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Quetta Gladiators, on the other hand retained Sarfraz Ahmed, Kevin Pietersen, Ahmed Shahzad, Luke Wright while picking England’s Tymal Mills and West Indies’ T20 World Cup hero Carlos Braithwaite among others.

Peshawar Zalmi retained Shahid Afridi, West Indies’ Darren Sammy, Wahab Riaz, Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal, Kamran Akmal and Muhammad Hafeez, while freshly choosing Bangladesh’s Shakibal Hasan and England’s Chris Jordan.

Darren Sammy will captain the side instead of Shahid Afridi.

Misbahul Haq led-Islamabad United kept almost all of  its previous edition players in their draft including Muhammad Sami, Sharjeel Khan, West Indies’ Andre Russell, Saeed Ajmal, Rumman Raees, Samuel Badree and Khalid Latif.

Lahore Qalandars this time chose former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, all-rounder Grant Elliott, West Indies’ Sunil Narine, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Shah and New Zealand’s Anton Devcich to boost its bowling, while retained Cameron Delport, Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Dwayne Bravo and Muhammad Rizwan in its squad.

‘Great to join Karachi Kings’

#HBLPSLDraft #kkpsldraft #KarachiKings @babarazam258 @Salman_ARY @realshoaibmalik @henrygayle @simadwasim @shehzadhkhan @samramuslim pic.twitter.com/gDGjWLwZ7P

— Karachi Kings (@KarachiKingsARY) October 19, 2016

FINAL IN LAHORE

As the drafting ceremony started, PSL chairman announced that the final of PSL’s 2017 edition will be played in Lahore.

Sethi expressed hope that the next PSL edition will be bigger than the last one it will to tell the world that Pakistan can oragnise such a big event.

FULL VIDEO OF THE PSL DRAFT CEREMONY