PSL draft day 2: Sangakkara and Ajmal get picked, no place for Younis and Jayawardene
The second day of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) draft saw stalwarts like Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, and Saeed Ajmal getting picked as supplementary players after the teams had exhausted their squads of 16 across the five categories.
The drafts began with teams being asked to pick five players each from the Silver category which saw Mushfiqur Rahim, Babar Azam, and Sam Billings amongst others getting picked. Thereafter, two players each from the Emerging category were to be selected.
Azhar Ali, the Pakistan ODI captain being part of the Emerging category came as a surprise.
After the 16 members of each squad were done with, teams were allowed to pick 4 supplementary players who would be paid only if they make themselves available in the camps of their respective teams.
Hence, the T20 heavyweights who were involved elsewhere, or were expected to be so during the tenure of the tournament were picked during this round.
Brad Hodge, the Australian T20 specialist, Ashar Zaidi, who excelled in the BPL, and hard-hitting veteran all-rounder Abdul Razzaq were among the players who were picked in the last rounds.
However, experienced Pakistani batsman Younis Khan and the veteran Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene were not picked by any of the teams despite being available in the pool.
Three players from the Platinum, Diamond and Gold categories were picked yesterday by each team, which included names like Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen, and Shahid Afridi amongst other stars.
Here are the five PSL squads at the end of the draft. Some teams have only 19 players because they ran out of cash.
Peshawar Zalmi
Platinum: Shahid Afridi (first pick), Wahab Riaz, Darren Sammy
Diamond: Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Chris Jordan
Gold: Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Khan, Jim Allenby
Silver: Aamer Yamin, Dawid Malan, Imran Khan (jnr), Shahid Yousuf, Abdur Rehman
Emerging: Musadiq Ahmed Ali, Hasan Ali
Supplementary: Mohammad Asghar, Brad Hodge, Israrullah, Taj Wali
Head coach: Mohammad Akram
Karachi Kings
Platinum: Shoaib Malik (first pick), Shakib Al Hasan, Sohail Tanvir
Diamond: Imad Wasim, Ravi Bopara, Lendl Simmons
Gold: Mohammad Amir, Bilawal Bhatti, James Vince
Silver: Iftikhar Ahmed, Nauman Anwar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Usama Mir, Sohail Khan
Emerging: Mir Hamza, Saifullah Bangash
Supplementary: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Shahzaib Hasan, Fawad Alam
Head coach: Mickey Arthur
Islamabad United
Platinum: Shane Watson (first pick), Andre Russell, Misbah-ul-Haq (Capt)
Diamond: Samuel Badree, Mohammad Irfan, Brad Haddin
Gold: Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Sami, Khalid Latif
Silver: Babar Azam, Imran Khalid, Kamran Ghulam, Umar Amin, Sam Billings
Emerging: Rumman Raees, Amad Butt
Supplementary: Ashar Zaidi, Saeed Ajmal, Hussain Talat, Umar Siddiq
Head coach: Dean Jones
Quetta Gladiators
Platinum: Kevin Pietersen (first pick), Sarfraz Ahmed, Ahmed Shehzad
Diamond: Anwar Ali, Jason Holder, Luke Wright
Gold: Zulfiqar Babar, Umar Gul, Elton Chigumbura
Silver: Bilal Asif, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Nawaz, Saad Nasim, Mohammad Nabi
Emerging: Akbar-ur-Rehman, Bismillah Khan
Supplementary: Kumar Sangakkara, Aizaz Cheema, Rameez Raja jnr
Head coach: Moin Khan
Lahore Qalandars
Platinum: Chris Gayle (first pick), Dwayne Bravo, Umar Akmal
Diamond: Mohammad Rizwan, Yasir Shah, Sohaib Maqsood
Gold: Mustafizur Rahman, Kevon Cooper, Cameron Delport
Silver: Zafar Gohar, Hammad Azam, Zia ul Haq, Zohaib Khan, Azhar Ali
Emerging: Naved Yasin, Adnan Rasool
Supplementary: Abdul Razzaq, Mukhtar Ahmed, Ehsan Adil, Imran Butt
Head coach: Paddy Upton