Hasaranga, Miller, Hales and Rajapaksa among star picks in the Pak T20 League draft

Wanindu Hasaranga, David Miller, Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Alex Hales were among the star attractions in the Pak T20 League draft held on Thursday (December 15) ahead of the eight edition of the competition. Pace prodigy Naseem Shah and attacking  batter Fakhar Zaman were the two Pakistan players roped in during the Platinum round while Imran Tahir was also among the top picks. 

The first pick in the Platinum round was made by Lahore who opted for Zaman. Quetta picked Hasaranaga while Miller was roped in by Multan. Karachi went to Matthew Wade, Islamabad chose Hales while Peshawar, who were the last in the draft order for the first round, chose Rajapaska. 

In the following round of Platinum picks, Quetta held on to their pacer Naseem, Zalmi chose Rovman Powell and veteran leg spinner Imran Tahir was picked by Karachi. Islamabad selected Afghanistan's Rahmanullah Gurbaz while Multan went after Josh Little. Having already retained two Platinum players before the draft, Lahore weren’t allowed a pick in this round. 

In the first round of the Diamond picks, United chose Fazalhaq Farooqi, Lahore opted for Hussain Talat while Mujeeb Ur Rahman was roped in by Peshawar. Quetta bagged the services of Odean Smith while Karachi, who had two picks available for this round, went with James Vince and James Fuller. Having already retained three Diamond category players,   Multan weren’t allowed to make a pick in this round. 

Peshawar, who had two available slots in the Gold Category opted for Danish Aziz and Arshad Iqbal while Quetta chose Ahsan Ali. Lahore too made two picks in the form of Sikandar Raza and Liam Dawson. Multan struck gold with Akeal Hossain while Karachi got hold of Andrew Tye. Having retained three players in the Gold bracket, Islamabad couldn't pick any in this round.

Multan, who hadn’t kept any player in the Silver category, bagged Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Sameen Gul, Anwar Ali and Mohammad Sarwar Afridi. Islamabad had three Silver picks available and they roped in Abrar Ahmed, Sohaib Maqsood and Rumman Raees. Peshawar opted for Saim Ayub and Usman Qadir while Lahore chose Dilbar Hussain, Mirza Tahir Baig and Ahmed Daniyal.  Quetta went after Umaid Asif and Mohammad Zahid. Meanwhile, Karachi selected Tayyab Tahir and Mohammad Akhlaq. 

A few big international names were drafted in during the Supplementary round. Peshawar got Jimmy Neesham, Multan bagged Adil Rashid while Martin Guptill was brought in by Quetta. Lahore got hold of Jordan Cox while Moeen Ali was roped in by United. In round 2 of the Supplementary picks, Quetta chose Omair Bin Yousuf while Karachi got Tabraiz Shamsi and Muhammad Umar. Jalat Khan was signed by Lahore, Arafar Minhas by Multan while United chose Mubasir Khan. 

PSL Current Squads:

Islamabad - Alex Hales (England), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Afghanistan), Shadab Khan (all Platinum), Asif Ali, Fazal Haq Farooqi (Afghanistan), Wasim Jr (all Diamond), Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali (all Gold), Abrar Ahmed, Colin Munro (New Zealand), Paul Stirling (Ireland), Rumman Raees, Sohaib Maqsood (all Silver), Hassan Nawaz, Zeeshan Zamir (both Emerging). Moeen Ali (England) and Mubasir Khan (Supplementary)

Karachi- Haider Ali, Imran Tahir (South Africa), Matthew Wade (Australia) (all Platinum), Imad Wasim, James Fuller (New Zealand), James Vince (both England) (all Diamond), Andrew Tye (Australia), Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik (all Gold), Aamer Yamin, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Akhlaq, Sharjeel Khan, Tayyab Tahir (all Silver), Irfan Khan Niazi, Qasim Akram (both Emerging). Mohammad Umar and Tabraiz Shamsi (South Africa) (Supplementary)

Lahore- Fakhar Zaman, Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Shaheen Shah Afridi (all Platinum), Dawid Wiese (Namibia), Hussain Talat, Haris Rauf (all Diamond), Abdullah Shafique, Liam Dawson (England), Sikander Raza (Zimbabwe) (all Gold), Ahmad Daniyal, Dilbar Hussain, Harry Brook (England), Kamran Ghulam, Mirza Tahir Baig (all Silver), Shawaiz Irfan, Zaman Khan (both Emerging). Jalat Khan and Jordan Cox (England) (both Supplementary)

Multan- David Miller (South Africa), Josh Little (Ireland), Mohammad Rizwan (all Platinum), Khushdil Shah, Rilee Rossouw (South Africa), Shan Masood (all Diamond), Akeal Hosein (West Indies), Shahnawaz Dahani, Tim David (Australia) (all Gold), Anwar Ali, Sameen Gul, Sarwar Afridi, Usama Mir, Usman Khan (both Silver), Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah (both Emerging). Adil Rashid (England) and Arafat Minhas (Supplementary).

Peshawar- Babar Azam, Rovman Powell (West Indies), Bhanuka Rajapaksa (Sri Lanka), (all Platinum), Mujeeb Ur Rehman (Afghanistan), Sherfane Rutherford (West Indies), Wahab Riaz (all Diamond), Arshad Iqbal, Danish Aziz, Mohammad Haris (all Gold), Aamer Jamal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore (England), Saim Ayub, Salman Irshad, Usman Qadir (all Silver), Haseebullah Khan, Sufyan Muqeem (both Emerging). Jimmy Neesham (New Zealand) (Supplementary). Peshawar Zalmi will pick their second Supplementary at the Replacement Draft.

Quetta- Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Wanindu Hasaranga (Sri Lanka) (all Platinum), Iftikhar Ahmed, Jason Roy (England), Odean Smith (West Indies) (all Diamond), Ahsan Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Sarfaraz Ahmed (all Gold), Mohammad Zahid, Naveen-ul-Haq (Afghanistan), Umar Akmal, Umaid Asif, Will Smeed (England) (all Silver), Aimal Khan, Abdul Wahid Bangalzai (both Emerging). Martin Guptill (New Zealand) and Omair Bin Yousuf (Supplementary).