It was a special Sunday (November 12) for the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2018 as team owners and officials were involved in the players' draft at National Cricket Academy (NCA). All of them came with their homework done well, picked players, who would strengthen their side and allow them a shot at the title.
Though the PSL 2018 is only slated to start from February 2018, teams were involved in a battle to sign quality players, who were in good numbers. The likes of Chris Lynn, Dwayne Bravo, Colim Munro, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir among others were some of the big names in the draft.
All the teams have made some decent selections in the PSL 2018 draft. The Karachi Kings were smart in getting some established players such as Mitchell Johnson, Luke Wright, Colin Munro and Eoin Morgan. All these players are T20 specialists.
Lahore Qalandars retained some key players like Brendon McCullum, Sunil Narine, Umar Akmal, which was wise. But, they have got in some special player from the draft in the form of Australian Lynn and Mustafizur Rehman as well.
Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators have also signed some good players. The former have roped in Duminy, Luke Ronchi and Sam Billings among others while for the latter, Shane Watson and Carlos Brathwaite were their best picks. However, signing Rashid Khan as a supplementary player (means the player will not be available for the full season but will play a part) is a good choice.
Peshawar Zalmi picked as many as 10 players, but Bravo and Tamim Iqbal were their best buys.
The new team for PSL 2018, Sultan Multans, who will be led by the experienced campaigner Shoaib Malik, picked the likes of Tahir, Darren Bravo, Ahmed Shehzad.
Here is the complete list of players for all six squads. It includes both the retained and new players picked in the draft.
Islamabad United: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Sami, Andre Russell, Rumman Raees, Shadab Khan, Samuel Badree, Iftikhar Ahmed, Amad Butt, Asif Ali, JP Duminy, Luke Ronchi, Faheem Ashraf, Sam Billings, Zafar Gohar, Sahibzada Farhan, Hussain Talat,
Supplementary players: Alex Hales, David Willey, Mohammad Hasan and Mohammad Hasnain.
Lahore Qalandars: Brendon McCullum (captain), Umar Akmal, Sunil Narine, Fakhar Zaman, Yasir Shah, Cameron Delport, Aamer Yamin, Bilawal Bhatti, Sohail Khan, Chris Lynn, Mustafizur Rehman, Bilal Asif, Raza Hasan, Sohail Akhtar, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Ghulam Mudassar.
Supplementary players: Angelo Mathews, Mitchell McClenaghan and Gulraiz Sadaf.
Karachi Kings: Imad Wasim (captain), Usman Khan, Usama Mir, Khurram Manzoor, Ravi Bopara, Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Shahid Afridi, Colin Ingram, Mitchell Johnson, Luke Wright, David Wiese, Tabish Khan, Mohammad Irfan Jr, Hasan Mohsin.
Supplementary players: Colin Munro, Eoin Morgan and Saifullah Bangash.
Multan Sultans: Shoaib Malik (captain), Kieron Pollard, Kumar Sangakkara, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Sohaib Maqsood, Irfan Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Imran Tahir, Darren Bravo, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Abbas, Nicholas Pooran, Abdullah Shafique, Saif Badar.
Supplementary players: Hardus Viljoen, Umar Gul, Umar Siddiq, Ross Whiteley
Quetta Gladiators: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Kevin Pietersen, Rilee Rossouw, Mohammad Nawaz, Anwar Ali, Mahmudullah, Umar Amin, Mir Hamza, Asad Shafiq, Shane Watson, Carlos Brathwaite, Rahat Ali, Rameez Raja Jr, Saad Ali, Saud Shakeel, Hassan Khan.
Supplementary players: Jason Roy, Rashid Khan, Moin Khan (jr.), Faraz Ahmed.
Peshawar Zalmi: Darren Sammy (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, Shakib al Hasan, Kamran Akmal, Hasan Ali, Haris Sohail, Chris Jordan, Mohammad Asghar, Dwayne Bravo, Tamim Iqbal, Hammad Azam, Saad Nasim, Taimoor Sultan, Sameen Gul.
Supplementary players: Andre Fletcher, Evin Lewis, Khalid Usman, Muhammad Arif.
