Cricket bat method to decide first pick of PSL draft, PCB confirms

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) Player Draft's first round pick order for the 2020 season will be determined via an age-old street cricket tradition involving the cricket bat in a ceremony held at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Sunday, according to a press release issued by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Representatives of the six PSL franchises and the senior management of the PCB will gather at the headquarters of Pakistan cricket to determine the pick order, the release said.

The cricket bat pick order method is often used to determine batting turns in single-wicket cricket across Pakistan. It also works as an alternate to the coin-toss method to start a match.

The cricket bat selection method has become an integral part of Pakistan cricket folklore and is commonly used across the country in hundreds and thousands of tennis and tape-ball cricket matches each day, the PCB added.

The announcement squashes speculation that the opening pick could be decided pugam pugai — a selection method involving hands similar to rock-paper-scissors.

Once the pick order for the first round is determined, a specially-designed statistical model will be used to decide the pick order for the remaining 17 rounds of the draft. This order will be generated and released on Monday.

Once the full pick order is released, the transfer and retention window for PSL 2020 will officially open. As part of next year’s draft policy, each team can retain up to eight players before.

The PSL 2020 will be staged in Pakistan with the action set to kick off in February 2020.