LAHORE: The players draft for third edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) was held at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore on Sunday.
The franchises had already retained nine players each and were to pick one player from the Platinum category, one from the Diamond category, one from the Gold category, two players from the Silver category and two players from the Emerging players pool to complete their squad of 16.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) released a list of 501 cricketers on Friday for the players’ draft in Lahore to be attended by the six franchises of the league.
A large number of international cricket stars, including England’s Ian Bell and Australia’s Shane Watson previously expressed their willingness to visit Pakistan to play PSL3 matches, if picked by franchises from the players draft today.
The top international cricket stars — including Australia’s Chris Lynn, Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, West Indies’ master blaster Chris Gayle, Carlos Brathwaite, Dwayne Bravo, South Africa’s JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Wayne Parnell, Jimmy Neesham, Sri Lankan former captain Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman, Mitchell McClenaghan, Colin Munro, Luke Ronchi, Adil Rashid, and Colin Ingram — were up for selection at the PSL Draft.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, ARY Digital CEO and Karachi Kings owner Salman Iqbal said the franchise would makes all possible efforts to pick experienced and some great cricket stars but the fans must realize that only those players were to be selected available at the players draft 2018.
On the occasion, he announced Mickey Arthur as head coach of the Karachi Kings, Azhar Mehmood as coach and Imad Waseem as captain.
Efforts underway to hold PSL matches in Karachi: Sethi
Speaking on the occasion, PCB chairman Najam Sethi said Salman Iqbal, owner of Karachi King, appears to give some big surprise in the coming PSL edition. He also praised Mr. Iqbal while stating that he is a dynamic personality.
Sethi said players drafting for the third PSL edition is a matter of pride. The lineup of players this time is better than ever before, he added.
The PCB chairman also said that all efforts are being made to hold PSL matches in Karachi this year, along with Lahore and the UAE.
The third edition of popular cricket league PSL will begin in February 2018.
Lahore Qalandars are first to pick the players. This will be followed by Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, Quetta Gladiators, Peshawar Zalmi and Multan Sultans.
Karachi Kings’ top picks for PSL 3
Platinum Category:
Karachi Kings made the third pick of the PSL draft in the platinum category after picking hard-hitting left-handed batsman Colin Ingram.
Diamond Category:
Karachi Kings picked Australian left arm pacer Mitchell Johnson the in diamond category.
Gold Category:
Karachi Kings opted for English all-rounder Luke Wright in Gold category.
SILVER CATEGORY:
Karachi Kings picked South African all-rounder David Wiese as their first silver pick.
The hometown hero Tabish Khan joins Karachi Kings as their second silver pick.
EMERGING CATEGORY:
The talented leg-spinner from FATA Mohammad Irfan has been picked by Karachi Kings as their emerging pick
Youngster from Karachi the all-rounder Hasan Mohsin has been picked by Karachi Kings as their emerging pick
Here are picks of other teams in respective categories:
Platinum Category
Lahore Qalanders made the first pick of the PSL draft in the platinum category after picking Australian cricketer Chris Lynn.
Islamabad United made the second pick of the PSL draft in the platinum category after picking South African middle-order batsman JP Duminy.
Quetta Gladiators made the fourth pick of the PSL draft in the platinum category after picking Australian batsman Shane Watson.
Peshawar Zalmi made the fifth pick of the PSL draft in the platinum category after picking West Indian cricketer Dwayne Bravo.
Multan Sultan made the last and sixth pick of the PSL draft in the platinum category after picking South African spinner Imran Tahir.
Diamond Category
Lahore Qalanders picked Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahaman in diamond category.
For their diamond pick, the Islamabad United picked New Zealand Wicket-keeper Luke Ronchi.
Quetta Gladiators picked T20I West Indian Captain Carlos Brathwaite in diamond category.
For their diamond pick, Peshawar Zalmi opted for Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal.
Multan Sultan picked West Indian batsman Darren Bravo in diamond category.
The latest Hat-Trick sensation of Pakistan, Fahim Ashraf is the gold pick of United Islamabad.
All-rounder Hammad Azam has been picked by Peshawar Zalmi as their gold pick.
Quetta Gladiators go for Left-arm fast bowler Rahat Ali in Gold category.
Lahore Qalanders picked right arm off spinner and power hitter Bilal Asif in the Gold category.
Multan Sultan go for opening batsman Ahmad Shahzad in gold category.
Silver Category
Lahore Qalanders have picked left-arm spinner Raza Hasan as their first silver pick.
Islamabad United have once again picked English batsman Sam Billings for their silver pick.
The batting all-rounder from Lahore Saad Nasim goes to Peshawar Zalmi
Rameez Raja Junior, top order batsman from Karachi joins the Gladiators camp
The impressive right arm Test pacer Mohammad Abbas is now part of Multan Sultan squad
A pick from Lahore Qalandar’s talent hunt program Sohail Akhtar joins
Left-arm all-rounder Zafar Gohar has been picked by Islamabad United as their silver pick
Peshawar Zalmi has picked Taimoor Sultan as their silver pick
Right-handed batsman Saad Ali is the silver round pick of Quetta
West Indian start Nicolas Pooran is the last pick of Silver Round and Multan Sultans have chosen him for their squad.
Emerging Category
The newest pace sensation, Shaheen Shah Afridi joins Lahore Qalandars in emerging category
Bating firepower and inform top order batsman Sahibzada Farhan is the emerging category pick of Islamabad United
In their pick in emerging round Quetta Gladiators has picked Saud Shakeel
Another talented youngster joins the PSL clan, Peshawar Zalmi has picked Sameen Gul as their emerging category pick
We have Multans Sultans emerging round pick, right arm off spin bowler and right-handed batsman Abdullah Shafiq
Lahore Qalandars have retained their emerging pick from last season, Left arm fast bowler Ghualm Mudassi
The all-rounder Hussain Talat has been retained by Islamabad United as their emerging pick
Left-arm spinner and star performer of last season Hassan Khan has been retained by Quetta Gladiators as their emerging pick
Defending champions Peshawar Zalmi have picked Ibtisam Sheikh as their emerging category pick
Released by Lahore Qalandars and Picked up by Multan Sultans Saif Badar
Supplementary Category
Karachi Kings picks middle order batsman Colin Munro in Supplementary Category
Great pick by Karachi Kings, they went for England’s captain Eoin Morgan in the Supplementary category
Saifullah Khan Bangash came as third pick for Karachi Kings in Supplementary category
Karachi Kings will announce 4th Supplementary Player after the talent hunt program Khiladi Ki Khoj.
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