Dwayne Bravo, Carlos Brathwaite and Alex Hales ruled out of 2017 PSL
What’s the story?
Dwayne Bravo, Carlos Brathwaite and Alex Hales are among those who will not participate in the 2017 edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The franchises attended a brief replacement draft on Monday to refill their overseas picks for the tournament.
While some players could not be available due to international commitments, others were not able to acquire no-objection certificates (NOC) from their respective boards. In a few cases, untimely injuries also came into the picture.
The draft has seen the likes of Jason Roy, Marlon Samuels, Moeen Ali and Thisara Perera slot in as replacement players. It was a follow-up event to the main draft which took place on October 19th last year.
In case you didn’t know...
PSL regulations stipulate that all franchises must have five overseas players in the squad at all times. At various stages of the PSL, Bangladesh will play a one-off Test in India and Australia take on Sri Lanka in three home T20Is. South African players will be in New Zealand for a full tour while England travel to West Indies for an ODI series.
The heart of the matter
Aside from Karachi Kings, whose entire supply of overseas players will be available for selection, all other teams secured their replacements. Defending champions Islamabad United have kept England seamer Steven Finn on standby in case the injured Andre Russell is found guilty during his anti-doping hearing.
Full results of replacement draft
Islamabad United – Andre Russell retained with Steven Finn placed on standby
Karachi Kings – All picked players will be available; no replacements
Lahore Qalandars – Jason Roy for Dwayne Bravo, Chris Green for Shaun Tait and James Franklin for Anton Devcich
Peshawar Zalmi – Marlon Samuels for Alex Hales, Tillakaratne Dilshan for Shakib Al Hasan and Andre Fletcher for Mohammad Shahzad
Quetta Gladiators – Rilee Rossouw for Mohammad Nabi, Moeen Ali for Carlos Brathwaite, Thisara Perera for Rovman Powell and Nathan McCullum for David Willey
What’s next?
All teams will assemble shortly to prepare for the 2nd edition of the PSL. The tournament is slated to begin on February 9th and will run until March 5th with each side playing every other side twice. The top four qualify for the knockout stages.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Looking at the picks in the replacement draft, all three sides have done a reasonable job in phasing out the unavailable players. Most of the selections have been formulated around like-for-like players and those with extensive experience in the shortest format.