LAHORE: As many as 414 players from international cricket playing countries, except India, have shown interest in the second edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

The event will be held in the UAE in February next year while its final will be played in Lahore.

All the players are divided into five different categories on the basis of their rankings. In the best category of Platinum, 28 players will be available for the five franchises. Among them, 19 are foreigners while the rest are from Pakistan.

In the second best category of Diamond, 33 players are included among them 25 are from abroad.

The Gold category has 74 players. Among them 55 are from other countries and the rest are local players.

A good number of players from Australia (six), England (12), South Africa (nine) and the West Indies (10) are included in this category. It also contains the players from Afghanistan (2), Bangladesh (3), New Zealand (2) and Zimbabwe (4).

The list of Silver category is the biggest one with a total of 255 players. Among them, 125 are from abroad and the rest are from Pakistan.

In the Emerging category, 24 players are included.

Categories:

Platinum:

PAKISTAN: Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz and Ahmed Shehzad.

WEST INDIES: Andre Russell, Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Kieron Pollard, Marlon Samuels and Sunil Narine.

ENGLAND: Alex Hales, Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Kevin Pietersen and Stuart Broad.

SRI LANKA: Kumara Sangakara, Lasith Malinga and Mahela Jayawardane.

AUSTRALIA: Shane Watson

BANGLADESH: Shakib Al Hassan

Diamond:

PAKISTAN: Anwar Ali, Yasir Shah, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Irfan, M. Rizwan, M. Aamir, Sharjeel Khan and Sohail Tanvir.

WEST INDIES: Carlos Braithwaite, Jason Holder, Lendl Simmons and Samuel Badree.

ENGLAND: James Anderson, Luke Wright, Moeen Ali, Ravi Bopara, Steven Fin, Adil Rashid, Chris Jordan and Jake Ball.

SRI LANKA: Nuwan Kulasekara, Thisara Perera and TM Dilshan.

AUSTRALIA: Benjiman Hilfenhaus and Brad Haddin.

SOUTH AFRICA: Albie Morkel, David Wiese, Robin Peterson and Wayne Parnell.

NEW ZEALAND: Grant Elliott, James Franklin and Nathan McCullum.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2016