The players’ draft for the 2023 edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) took place on Thursday, December 15, in Karachi. Over 500 players took part in the draft. Teams had to pick from the Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver, Emerging, and Supplementary categories.
Franchises also made judicious use of the right-to-match cards. Quetta Gladiators used the RTM and took back Naseem Shah from Multan Sultans.
Abrar Ahmed, who picked up 11 wickets on his Test debut against England, is set to ply his trade for Islamabad United. From the likes of Rahmanullah Gurbaz, David Miller, Sikandar Raza, Moeen Ali, Rovman Powell, Imran Tahir, and a number of big names are set to take part in the T20 league.
The 36 foreign players picked up in the draft were from 10 T20I playing countries, including England (10), Afghanistan (five), West Indies (four), South Africa (four), New Zealand (four), Australia (three), Ireland (two), Sri Lanka (two), Namibia (one), and Zimbabwe (one).
Squads:
Islamabad United: Alex Hales (Eng), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Afg), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fazal Haq Farooqi (Afg), Wasim Jr, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Abrar Ahmed, Colin Munro (Nz), Paul Stirling (Ire), Rumman Raees, Sohaib Maqsood, Hassan Nawaz, Zeeshan Zamir. Moeen Ali (Eng) and Mubasir Khan (Supplementary).
Karachi Kings: Haider Ali, Imran Tahir (Rsa), Matthew Wade (Aus), Imad Wasim, James Fuller (Nz), James Vince (Eng), Andrew Tye (Aus), Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik, Aamer Yamin, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Akhlaq, Sharjeel Khan, Tayyab Tahir, Irfan Khan Niazi, Qasim Akram, Mohammad Umar and Tabraiz Shamsi (Rsa).
Lahore Qalandars: Fakhar Zaman, Rashid Khan (Afg), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Dawid Wiese (Nam), Hussain Talat, Haris Rauf, Abdullah Shafique, Liam Dawson (Eng), Sikander Raza (Zim), Ahmad Daniyal, Dilbar Hussain, Harry Brook (Eng), Kamran Ghulam, Mirza Tahir Baig, Shawaiz Irfan, Zaman Khan, Jalat Khan and Jordan Cox (Eng).
Multan Sultans: David Miller (Rsa), Josh Little (Ire), Mohammad Rizwan, Khushdil Shah, Rilee Rossouw (Rsa), Shan Masood, Akeal Hosein (Wi), Shahnawaz Dahani, Tim David (Aus), Anwar Ali, Sameen Gul, Sarwar Afridi, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah, Adil Rashid (Eng) and Arafat Minhas.
Peshawar Zalmi: Babar Azam, Rovman Powell (Wi), Bhanuka Rajapaksa (SL), Mujeeb Ur Rehman (Afg), Sherfane Rutherford (Wi), Wahab Riaz, Arshad Iqbal, Danish Aziz, Mohammad Haris, Aamer Jamal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore (Eng), Saim Ayub, Salman Irshad, Usman Qadir, Haseebullah Khan, Sufyan Muqeem, Jimmy Neesham (Nz).
Quetta Gladiators: Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Wanindu Hasaranga (SL), Iftikhar Ahmed, Jason Roy (Eng), Odean Smith (Wi), Ahsan Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Mohammad Zahid, Naveen-ul-Haq (Afg), Umar Akmal, Umaid Asif, Will Smeed (Eng), Aimal Khan, Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Martin Guptill (Nz) and Omair Bin Yousuf.
Sherfane Rutherford is the only West Indies player retained by a Pakistan Super League Franchise for their 2023 season.
The 24-year-old was retained by the Peshawar Zalmi for the new season, which runs from 9 February to 19 March 2023.
Accordingly, four West Indies players were selected by three franchises for the tournament. Akeal Hosein, Sherfane Rutherford (Retained), Rovman Powell, Odean Smith are the four.