Dawid Malan leads strong field in HBL PSL Diamond Category

KARACHI: England’s Dawid Malan leads a strong field of 59 foreign cricketers who have registered in Diamond Category for HBL Pakistan Super League 2020.

The registration window for the foreign players closes on November 21. World’s third-ranked T20I batsman was in a punishing form in the just-concluded five-match series against New Zealand, totaling 458 runs in five matches. Malan represented Peshawar Zalmi in three HBL PSLs, helping the side lift the silverware in 2017.

England’s Ravi Bopara and Luke Ronchi, who won the player of the HBL PSL awards in 2016 and 2018, respectively, have also registered in the Diamond Category.

Other big England attractions in the preliminary list are Somerset’s Tom Banton, Yorkshire’s Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Joe Denly, Tymal Mills, Craig Overton, Phil Salt, James Vince and Luke Wright.

Daren Sammy is among 12 West Indies players who have registered in the Diamond Category that includes Johnson Charles, Shai Hope, Alzarri Josphe, Keemo Paul and Marlon Samuels.

In the preliminary list, 11 South Africa cricketers have registered with Rassie van der Dussen being the most popular name after his 241 runs in the ODI series against Pakistan earlier this year. Kyle Abbott also features in the list.

Other prominent names in the preliminary list include Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah, Roelof van der Merwe of Netherlands, and Sri Lanka’s Niroshan Dickwella and Isuru Udana. Australia’s Fawad Ahmed, Chris Green and Ben Laughlin, and Najeebullah Zadran and Qais Ahmad of Afghanistan are the other players to register in the Diamond Category.