5 foreign cricketers who could take PSL by storm

Former cricketers at the PSL draftAfter years of planning, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) will finally come to fruition on February 4, 2016, when Islamabad United take on the Quetta Gladiators at the Dubai International Stadium. Originally, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had declared the launch of the T20 league in 2009 but had to postpone it due to domestic security concerns.Unlike most other T20 leagues, the PSL will have only five teams for the inaugural season. The teams for the 2016 edition of the PSL are the Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars, Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators.Every franchise has announced their 20-man squad for the 20-day tournament. Each squad has five foreign players, and they will be the ones in the spotlight when the tournament kicks off, despite the presence of many local Pakistani stars.Here we take a look at five of the foreign players who could make a huge impact in the much-awaited PSL:

#5 Shane Watson (Islamabad United)

Since having been dropped from the national side, Shane Watson worked his way back by playing domestic cricket and putting in performances that showed how great an impact he can have on any side. Watson made his international comeback in the recently-concluded T20I series against India.

Although there were not many positives to take from the series for the home side, one definite bright note will be the batting performance of Watson in the third T20I at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Watson scored an unbeaten knock of 124 in just 71 balls to take his side to their highest T20I score, albeit in a losing cause.

The Australian all-rounder's T20 record is nothing short of outstanding as he 4493 runs in168 matches at an average of 31.20 and a strike rate of 140.49. He has three hundreds and 29 fifties to his name in T20s. His bowling record is equally impressive with 133 wickets to his name at an average of 25.67 and giving away 7.55 runs an over.

All the stats prove how valuable a player Watson is, with the bat as well as the ball, across the globe as he has played in a number of T20 leagues. His form in the Big Bash League (BBL) was fairly impressive as, in 10 games, Watson scored 235 runs and picked up 9 wickets to help his side win the 2015/16 BBL.

Watson will be a great asset to the Islamabad United and the 34-year-old will look to perform well in the tournament and stake a claim for a spot in the Australian squad for the World T20.