485 players from 22 countries register for PSL draft

LAHORE: Four hundred and eighty five international players from 22 countries have registered for the HBL PSL 2024 Player Draft scheduled to take place on December 13 at the National Cricket Academy, Lahore.

The Platinum category includes 46 players, while 76 players have signed up in the Diamond category. The foreign players for the draft include the likes of England’s Dawid Malan and South Africa’s Reeza Hendricks, both of whom feature in the top 10 of the ICC Men’s T20I player rankings for batters.

Sri Lanka spinner Maheesh Theekshana, Afghanistan duo Fazalhaq Farooqi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman and West Indies left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein, all ranked among the top 10 T20I bowlers, have made themselves available for the draft.

The highest number of players came from England, 158, followed by West Indies (58), Sri Lanka (40), Afghanistan (36), South Africa (30), Bangladesh (21), New Zealand (18), Australia (16), Zimbabwe (11) and Ireland (nine).

Some of the prominent players in the Platinum category are Daniel Sams, Ashton Agar (both Australia), Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (all Afghanistan), Ben Duckett, Chris Jordan, David Willey, Dawid Malan, Luke Wood, Reece Topley, Tom Curran, Tymal Mills (all England), Sandeep Lamichhane (Nepal), James Neesham (New Zealand), Rassie van der Dussen, Imran Tahir (both South Africa), Maheesh Theekshana, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (all Sri Lanka), Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Brandon King and Kyle Mayers (all West Indies).

The notable players in Diamond category are Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi (both Afghanistan), Ben McDermott (Australia), Litton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mahmudullah (all Bangladesh), Dan Lawrence and others.