LAHORE: More foreign cricketers including Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews, South Africa’s J.P. Duminy and former Australian Test paceman Mitchell Johnson have joined Pakistan Super League (PSL) for its 2018 edition.

According to the list of players released by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), besides Duminy and Johnson, the other foreign players who will feature for the first time in the PSL include Mustafizur Rahman, Wayne Parnell, Colin Munro, Imran Tahir, Luke Ronchi, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adil Rashid, John Hastings and Chris Lynn.

“The Pakistan Super League is all set to become bigger and better with more international stars signing up to take part in the Player Draft for season three,” says a statement from the PSL secretariat.

The 2018 PSL — to start in February — carries relatively more significance as compared to its first two editions because the PCB has planned to hold eight of its matches in Pakistan, four each in Lahore and Karachi.

And if the new star players have signed with the PCB admitting its condition to also play eight matches in Pakistan, without any concern of security problems, then it will be a big deal.

The inclusion of three Proteas cricketers — Duminy, Imran and Wayne Parnell — is significant giving the PSL added colour.

And the same is the case when Johnson and Lynn, the two Australians who will be playing in Pakistan.

Ex-Sri Lankan captain Mathews will also be looking to make his inaugural appearance in the next edition, a PCB spokesman said. Mathews will be joined by current West Indian skipper Jason Holder, Aussie all-rounder John Hastings, and the Kiwi duo of Luke Ronchi and Mitchell McClenaghan, he further said.

“We are seeing top quality cricketers signing up with the HBL Pakistan Super League every year now,” said PCB chairman Najam Sethi.

“This is an expansion year and, therefore, our efforts are geared towards making this bigger and better than the first two seasons. We have top-tier international talent joining a pool of released players and this sets us up very nicely for the main draft.”

Franchises will now pick one player each in the Platinum, Diamond and Gold categories, two in Silver, two in Emerging and up to four players in the supplementary round to form their squads.

The draft pool for this year will consist of new signings as well as players who were released at the end of the retention window and went unpicked in the expansion draft.

Six teams will be vying for the top position in the 2018 PSL as Multan Sultans have entered the fray as the latest franchise.

Some of this season’s new signings are listed below:

J.P. Duminy (South Africa), Chris Lynn (Australia), Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka), Imran Tahir (South Africa), Mitchell McClenaghan (New Zealand), Evin Lewis (West Indies), Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Mitchell Johnson (Australia), Colin Munro (New Zealand), Jason Holder (West Indies), Adil Rashid (England), John Hastings (Australia), Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh), Lendl Simmons (West Indies), Luke Ronchi (New Zealand), Wayne Parnell (South Africa), James Vince (England), Darren Bravo (West Indies), Albie Morkel (South Africa), Tim Bresnan (England).

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2017