The Pakistan Super League to hold a Draft for replacement players ahead of the resumption of the sixth edition. The franchises will get an opportunity to pick from 134 players to plug holes in their squad.
The Pakistan Super League will be conducting a replacement draft for teams to replace their missing players and complete their depleted squads ahead of the resumption of the sixth edition of the tournament. The PSL 2021 is set to resume in June after being postponed on March 4 due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The remainder of the tournament is slated to be played between June 2 to June 20, with all the matches scheduled at the National Cricket Stadium in Karachi, in a bio-security bubble managed by a UK-based firm. The teams are asked to assemble by May 23 to begin their mandatory seven-day quarantine followed by three-day training sessions.
Most of the overseas players that had participated in the first 14 matches before the postponement will be unavailable for various reasons. England players will not be available for the tournament due to the Vitality T20 Blast, which begins on June 9. Other players will be busy with national duty.
“The problem now is that many players from England had signed up for PSL 2021 but with the Vitality blast starting from June 9 and also keeping in mind the international commitments of the England and other teams in June franchises are in trouble,”
a franchise official had quoted.
As a solution, PSL has come up with a Replacement Draft, which will provide teams with a chance to select from 134 overseas players. The Draft includes players from Australia (10), New Zealand (12), South Africa (18), Bangladesh (7), West Indies (25), Sri Lanka (24), Zimbabwe (6), Afghanistan (16), Ireland (5), UAE (5), Scotland (4), Nepal (1) and Oman (1).
Caribbean stars Andre Russell and Evin Lewis, New Zealand’s Martin Guptill and Bangladesh’s all-rounder Shakib-al-Hasan are part of the platinum tier. Lewis will only be available till June 16. Martin Guptill will be available for the whole season, while Russell and Shakib will only be available after the culmination of IPL.
The Diamond category includes Australia’s batsman Usman Khawaja and all-rounder James Faulkner, New Zealand pacer Adam Milne, South African pacer Morne Morkel and Bangladesh’s opener Tamim Iqbal. Morkel, Faulkner and Khawaja will be available for the full tournament, while Adam Milne and Tamim Iqbal will join only after May 27.
The Gold category will feature Sri Lanka’s Niroshan Dickwella, middle-order batsman Dinesh Chandimal and West Indies’ all-rounder Keemo Paul.
The Silver tier will have Jake Weatherald and Jonathan Wells from Australia, Afghanistan’s Hazratullah Zazai, New Zealand’s George Worker, Zimbabwe’s Wesley Madhevere and Sean Williams, Bangladesh’s Taskin Ahmed, Liton Das and Shabbir Rahman. Nuwan Pradeep and Seekkuge Prasanna from Sri Lanka, Johnson Charles and Kesrick Williams from West Indies will also be part of the Silver category.
Rashid Khan, David Weise, Mohammad Nabi, Joe Clarke, Alex Hales, Saqib Mahmood, James Vince are important players the teams will be missing out on.
The full list of overseas players that are set to miss PSL 6
Lahore Qalandars: Rashid Khan (Platinum), Samit Patel (Gold), David Wiese (Diamond), Tom Abell (Silver), Joe Denly
Karachi Kings: Colin Ingram (Platinum), Mohammad Nabi (Diamond), Dan Christian (Diamond), Joe Clarke (Silver)
Islamabad United: Alex Hales (Platinum), Lewis Gregory (Diamond), Phil Salt (Gold)
Quetta Gladiators: Tom Banton (Platinum)
Peshawar Zalmi: Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Diamond), Liam Livingstone (Gold), Saqib Mahmood (Silver), Tom Kohler-Cadmore (Silver)
Multan Sultans: Chris Lynn (Platinum), James Vince (Gold), Adam Lyth (Silver), Carlos Brathwaite (Supplement).
