PSL 8: Babar Azam moves to Peshawar Zalmi

KARACHI: Ahead of the eighth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), all-format skipper Babar Azam has left franchise Karachi Kings and joined Peshawar Zalmi.

With 2,413 runs under his belt in 68 matches, the prolific right-hander is the all-time highest scorer of PSL.

During the last season, the Kings, led by Azam, became the first team to lose nine matches in a single edition of PSL.

In exchange for veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik, Azam has been traded by Kings to Peshawar Zalmi, sources told Geo News.

All the retentions by franchises will be revealed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), later today.

PCB ropes in top foreign players for PSL 2023 Draft

On Thursday, the PSL also announced that Australia T20I captain Aaron Finch is among the players who have signed up for the upcoming PSL Player Draft.

Finch has vast T20 experience under his belt, with nearly 11,000 runs in 367 matches at a strike rate of 139.31.

England’s Reece Topley, Tom Curran and Adil Rashid, South Africa’s Wayne Parnell, Lungi Ngidi and Rassie Van Der Dussen, Sri Lanka’s Dasun Shanaka and Wanindu Hasaranga, West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran and Evin Lewis and New Zealand’s Jimmy Neesham are also among the players who have registered for the draft.

Earlier, England’s Alex Hales, Dawid Malan and Jason Roy, New Zealand’s Martin Guptill, South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw and David Miller, Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Bangladesh’s Shakib-al-Hasan, Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza and the Netherlands’ Colin Ackermann have already been confirmed by the PCB for the draft.

It should be noted that the draft is likely to take place in the third week of November 2022.

The PCB has already revealed the pick order for the draft, where defending champions Lahore Qalandars will make the first pick.

Quetta Gladiators and Multan Sultans will have second and third picks. The fourth and fifth picks will be done by Karachi Kings and Islamabad United. Meanwhile, Peshawar Zalmi will make the sixth pick.

The next 17 rounds were decided through a special statistical tool.