5 surprises from the PSL Draft 2015
Former cricketers during the second day of the PSL DraftMany former and current cricketers of the Pakistan cricket team have found themselves picked by their respective franchises, in the ongoing Draft of the Pakistan Super League. Though most names were expected to be picked, there were some surprises in store, for some former and current cricketers.For instance, a player with a significant amount of experience in international cricket, had to be satisfied after being picked in the Silver Category. Each team was allowed to pick players in categories like Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver and emerging, in descending order of price tag. The prices for these categories were $140,000, $70,000, $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 respectively.Despite achieving glory for their country, some prominent players were either unpicked or ‘demoted’, thus raising eyebrows in the cricketing circles.
#1 Younis Khan
Probabaly the biggest surprise of the PSL Draft, recently retired cricketer Younis Khan, was not picked by any of the 5 franchises. The 38-year old who became the leading run-scorer in Test cricket for Pakistan, was ignored by all franchises, on both days of the draft.
The former captain’s exclusion did raise eyebrows, as Pakistan had achieved World T20 glory under his captaincy in 2009. The recent form of Younis in limited-over cricket, just before his retirement, did contribute to his exclusion from the draft, and tilted odds against him.