PSL 2020 players’ draft finally comes to an end

LAHORE: The players’ draft of Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 finally came to an end in Lahore Friday night after a mentally exhausted fancy picking battle between all six franchises.

Now the draft is over and the teams for PSL 5 have been decided. All the six franchises have their best pick-players strategically believed better suited for different venue of Pakistan as the entire tournament comes home this season.

The PSL draft took place at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) ahead of the fifth edition in 2020 which is scheduled to take place in February.

Defending champions Quetta have managed to get the likes of Jason Roy and Sohail Khan. Runners-up Peshawar Zalmi, meanwhile, had retained all their three Platinum picks from last year but did well to strengthen certain key positions by adding the likes of Shoaib Malik and Rahat Ali to their roster.

Islamabad United, the two time champions on the other hand, opted to go for players that have already been in their side as they brought back the likes of Rumman Raees and English hitter Phil Salt among others while also inducting the legendary Dale Steyn into their squad.

Karachi Kings have added some serious firepower up top by bringing Alex Hales and Sharjeel Khan into their side. It would be Sharjeel’s first cricket stint after serving his banned owing to match-fixing. Struggling Lahore Qalandars and Multan Sultans, meanwhile, have also strengthened considerably with some intelligent picks.

Lahore can now call upon Chris Lynn while Multan have Moeen Ali and Rilee Rossouw at their disposal.

Final line-ups

Quetta Gladiators: Sarfaraz Ahmed, M Nawaz, Jason Roy, Shane Watson, Ahmed Shehzad, Ben Cutting, Umar Akmal, M Hasnain, Fawad Ahmed, Naseem Shah, Ahsan Ali, Sohail Khan, Tymal Mills, Abdul Nasir, Arish Ali Khan, Azam Khan, Keemo Paul and Khurram Manzoor.

Peshawar Zalmi: Wahab Riaz, Hassan Ali, Kieron Pollard, Kamran Akmal, Tom Banton, Shoaib Malik, Darren Sammy, Imam-ul-Haq, Liam Dawson, Umar Amin, M Mohsin, Rahat Ali, Dwaine Pretorius, Adil Amin, Amir Khan, Aamir Ali, Liam Livingstone and Haider Ali.

Islamabad United: Shadab Khan, Dale Steyn, Colin Ingram, Faheem Ashraf, Asif Ali, Colin Munro, Luke Ronchi, Hussain Talat, Rumman Raees, Ammad Butt, Rizwan Hussain, Musa Khan, Phil Salt, Zafar Gohar, Akif Javed, Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Saif Badar and Rassie van der Dussen.

Lahore Qalandars: Chris Lynn, Fakhar Zaman, M Hafeeez, David Wiese, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Shinwari, Sohail Akhtar, Haris Rauf, Samit Patel, Salman Butt, Seekkuge Prasanna, Ben Dunk, Farzan Raja, Jaahid Ali, M Faizan, Lendl Simmons and Dilbar Hussain.

Karachi Kings: Babar Azam, M Amir, Alex Hales, Imad Wasim, Iftikhar Ahmed, Chris Jordan, Aamir Yamin, Sharjeel Khan, Cameron Delport, Usama Mir, M Rizwan, Umaid Asif, Dan Lawrence, Ali Khan, Umer Khan, Arshad Iqbal, Liam Plunkett and Awais Zia.

Multan Sultans: M Irfan, Moeen Ali, Rilee Rossouw, Shahid Afridi, Zeeshan Ashraf, Ravi Bopara, James Vince, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Shaan Masood, Ali Shafiq, Khushdil Shah, Usman Qadir, Fabian Allen, M Ilyas, Rohail Nazir, Imran Tahir and Bilawal Bhatti.