Teams beef up rosters in PSL 8 replacement draft

The six Pakistan Super League franchises beefed up their squads in the replacement draft that took place over a conference call on Wednesday.

The six teams added players to their squads in the third and fourth supplementary pick rounds before naming replacements for the players who were partially or fully unavailable. Each side could pick a maximum of one foreign cricketer in the two supplementary rounds.

Peshawar Zalmi, who had reserved their pick in the second supplementary round in the PSL 8 Player Draft in December, picked fast bowler Khurram Shahzad.

In the first pick of the third supplementary round, Peshawar Zalmi picked Haris Sohail, who recently made a comeback to the Pakistan ODI side.

Lahore Qalandars, who had the second pick, named Ahsan Bhatti, a left-arm spin all-rounder and product of their player development programme. Islamabad United and Karachi Kings picked Tom Curran and Ben Cutting, who played for Peshawar Zalmi last season, respectively. Quetta Gladiators and Multan Sultans, who had the fifth and sixth picks, included Qais Ahmed and Kieron Pollard, who has previously turned out for Karachi Kings.

The fourth supplementary round followed the reverse order in which Multan Sultans took Ammad Butt, who was with Peshawar Zalmi in the last edition. Quetta Gladiators picked Saud Shakeel. Karachi Kings and Islamabad United picked Musa Khan, who was previously in Islamabad United, and Zafar Gohar, while Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi reserved their picks.

The six franchises also named replacements for the players who are partially or fully unavailable.

In the Platinum category, Lahore Qalandars picked Sam Billings for Rashid Khan; Peshawar Zalmi replaced Rovman Powell with Richard Gleeson; Islamabad United picked Gus Atkinson and Tymal Mills for Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Alex Hales. Multan Sultan replaced David Miller with Izharulhaq Naveed. Quetta reserved their pick for Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga.

In the Diamond category, Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi reserved their picks for Fazalhaq Farooqi and Mujeeb ur Rehman; Quetta Gladiators picked Dwaine Pretorius and Will Jacks for Odean Smith and Jason Roy.

Multan Sultan reserved their replacements for Akeal Hosein and Tim David in the Gold category.

In the Silver category, Quetta Gladiators and Lahore Qalandars replaced Naveen ul Haq with Nuwan Thushara and Harry Brook with Shane Dadswell.

In the supplementary picks, Lahore Qalandars’ Jordan Cox was replaced with Kusal Mendis, Multan Sultans’ Adil Rashid with Wayne Parnell and Karachi Kings’ Tabraiz Shamsi with Faisal Akram. Islamabad United reserved their pick for Moeen Ali.

Rovman Powell, David Miller, Odean Smith, Akeal Hosein and Tabraiz Shamsi will potentially be unavailable to their franchises from 8 March onwards due to bilateral limited-overs series between the West Indies and South Africa.

Adil Rashid, Moeen Ali and Jason Roy are potentially unavailable because of England versus Bangladesh limited overs series to their franchises from 26 February to 14 March. Alex Hales will join the PSL 8 from 26 February onwards. Tim David will join the tournament from 3 March. Jordan Cox will be available to Lahore Qalandars from 21 February as he is on the England Lions tour of Sri Lanka. Wanindu Hasaranga will leave the tournament on 3 March.

Afghanistan cricketers may become unavailable to their teams for a brief duration due to potential international commitment.

Supplementary and replacements picks on Wednesday (25 January 2023):

• Peshawar Zalmi – Supplementary: Khurram Shahzad and Haris Sohail. Replacement: Richard Gleeson
• Lahore Qalandars – Supplementary: Ahsan Bhatti. Replacement: Sam Billings, Shane Dadswell and Kusal Mendis
• Islamabad United – Supplementary: Tom Curran and Zafar Gohar. Replacement: Gus Atkinson and Tymal Mills
• Karachi Kings – Supplementary: Ben Cutting and Musa Khan. Replacement: Faisal Akram
• Quetta Gladiators – Supplementary: Qais Ahmed and Saud Shakeel. Replacement: Dwaine Pretorius, Will Jacks and Nuwan Thushara
• Multan Sultans – Supplementary: Kieron Pollard and Ammad Butt. Replacement: Wayne Parnell and Izharulhaq Naveed.