Lynn, Tahir top picks in PSL 2018 draft

By Agencies

November 13, 2017

LAHORE: Hard-hitting Australian batsman Chris Lynn and Pakistan-born South Africa leg-spinner Imran Tahir were the top picks of the player draft for the third season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) on Sunday.

Islamabad United and Lahore Qalandars looking very strong, given the depth of their squads. Lahore picking up Lynn means they will have a destructive opening pair as he will be paired with Brendon McCullum. They will also have the services of West Indian spinner Sunil Narine and Mustafizur Rahman, both highly successful T20 players.

All-rounder Mitchell McClenaghan joins the squad as their supplementary player with Angelo Mathews.Luke Ronchi, the New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman, who retired from international cricket earlier this year, was hired by Islamabad United.

They have a strong middle order with South Africa’s JP Duminy and recently-retired Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq who will be supported by young Faheem Ashraf and experienced Andre Russell.

Shadab Khan has proven his mettle in the shorter formats while Mohammad Sami will be the leader of their attack. All they really needed was a solid opener to partner with Ronchi at the top, and they picked Sam Billings, who can bat at the top of the order.

In the eventuality of them requiring a back-up, they have more than an able one in Alex Hales.

Multan Sultans, the latest entrants, were seeking a spinner who would slot in seamlessly into the XI and given Tahir’s recent record, including in the IPL earlier in the year, it was a no-brainer for them, after having snapped up Shoaib Malik, Kieron Pollard and Kumar Sangakkara as a part of the pre-draft last month.

Luke Wright, who played for Quetta Gladiators in the first two seasons, will represent the Karachi Kings this time, as will Colin Munro, but due to a question over his availability for the entire season, he was taken as a supplementary player.

The side, however, has as many as seven front-line bowlers in the squad, which could come back to cost them eventually.

Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad, who belonged to the Platinum Round was relegated two levels and only picked in the gold by the Sultans.

Peshawar Zalmi, who have announced that their side would be led by Darren Sammy, signed Dwayne Bravo. They also roped in Tamim Iqbal and Evin Lewis, albeit as supplementary players.

Quetta Gladiators, runners-up in the first two editions, drafted in Shane Watson and Carlos Brathwaite to support big-hitters Kevin Pietersen and Rilee Rossouw.

Towards the end though, Lahore ran out of budget and couldn’t partake in the fourth round of the supplementary draft.

Karachi decided to pick a player at the end of their talent hunt programme, which effectively meant that they would have to pick from the emerging players’ pool.

Among the emerging players picked — a system through which the young Shadab Khan rose to prominence — Saad Ali stood out. He has been picked by Quetta apparently because of his performances in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in which he has so far scored 755 runs. Sahibzada Farhan, picked by Islamabad is also a promising prospect, having led Faisalabad to victory in a National T20 Cup match with a 52-ball 76.

Each team now has a squad of 20, having been given a salary cap of $1.2 million.

Platinum round picks:

Lahore Qalandars: Chris Lynn. Islamabad United: JP Duminy. Karachi Kings: Colin Ingram. Quetta Gladiators: Shane Watson. Peshawar Zalmi: Dwayne Bravo. Multan Sultans: Imran Tahir

Diamond round:

Islamabad United: Luke Ronchi. Lahore Qalandars: Mustafizur Rahman. Karachi Kings: Mitchell Johnson. Quetta Gladiators: Carlos Brathwaite. Peshawar Zalmi: Tamim Iqbal. Multan Sultan: Darren Bravo.

Gold round:

Karachi Kings: Luke Wright. Islamabad United: Faheem Ashraf. Peshawar Zalmi: Hammad Azam. Quetta Gladiators: Rahat Ali. Lahore Qalandars: Bilal Asif. Multan Sultans: Ahmed Shehzad.

Silver round 1:

Lahore Qalandars: Raza Hasan. Islamabad United: Sam Billings. Peshawar Zalmi: Saad Nasim. Quetta Gladiators: Rameez Raja Jr. Karachi Kings: David Wiese. Multan Sultans: Mohammad Abbas.

Silver round 2:

Lahore Qalandars: Sohail Akhtar. Islamabad United: Zafar Gohar. Peshawar Zalmi: Taimoor Sultan. Quetta Gladiators: Saad Ali. Karachi Kings: Tabish Khan. Multan Sultans: Nicholas Pooran.

Emerging Players Round 1:

Lahore Qalandars: Shaheen Shah Afridi. Islamabad United: Sahibzada Farhan. Karachi Kings: Mohammad Irfan Jr. Quetta Gladiators: Saud Shakeel. Peshawar Zalmi: Sameen Gul. Multan Sultans: Abdullah Shafique.

Emerging Players Round 2:

Lahore Qalandars retained Ghulam Mudassar and Islamabad United retained Hussain Talat. Karachi Kings: Hasan Mohsin. Quetta Gladiators: Hassan Khan. Peshawar Zalmi: Ibtisam Sheikh. Multan Sultans: Saif Badar.

Supplementary Rounds were for those players who were not available for the entire season. The franchises could also call upon them for those not available, which could come into the picture if some of the players refused to travel to Pakistan.

Supplementary Round 1:

Lahore: Angelo Mathews.

Islamabad: Alex Hales.

Karachi: Colin Munro.

Quetta: Jason Roy.

Peshawar: Andre Fletcher.

Multan: Hardus Viljoen.

Supplementary Round 2:

Lahore: Mitchell McClenaghan.

Peshawar: Evin Lewis.

Karachi: Eoin Morgan.

Quetta: Rashid Khan (partially available).