LAHORE: The draft event for the inaugural edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is set to take place on Dec 21 and 22, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Thursday.

With 308 top local and foreign cricketers on the draft list, the five franchise owners will select players for their respective teams.

The PSL has already finalised the sale of commercial rights for franchises, broadcast, and title sponsorship.

In a press statement issued today, the PCB said: “By opting for a draft system in place of a player auction, PSL will ensure a level-playing field as each team will have to choose a certain number of players from each category.

“As a result of this, each team will spend an equal amount on drafting players. Top players will, therefore, play for all five teams.”

The PSL player list includes 137 Pakistani and 171 foreign players.

The short-listed players have been divided into five categories:

• Platinum
• Diamond
• Gold
• Silver
• Emerging

Cricket stars such as Shane Watson, Wahab Riaz, Kevin Pietersen, Shahid Afridi, Chris Gayle, James Anderson, Shoaib Malik, Darren Sammy, Grant Elliott, Lasith Malinga, Andre Russell, TM Dilshan, Marlon Samuels, Angelo Mathews and Shakib al Hasan have made themselves available for the draft.

Each team will be required to pick three players per category from each of the top three categories (Platinum, Diamond and Gold).

While drafting of two emerging players will be mandatory, a team will also be able to pick up to five players from the 'Silver' category in order to complete the squad.

Each team will have a minimum of four foreign players in the playing 11.

However, leading cricketers who have signed up for other international or national commitments can feature for a portion of the league.

Yesterday, the PSL invited top cricket professionals to sign up as coaches with the five franchises of the league.

“Only highly qualified coaches and ex-Test cricketers will be entertained under this initiative.

“Any interested applicant who is involved in any sort of conflict with the PCB and its functionaries or with the International Cricket Council is not eligible to become a part of the coach roster,” a PCB statement had said.

The inaugural edition of the PSL is scheduled to take place from Feb 4-23, 2016 in Dubai and Sharjah.