LAHORE: Former Pakistan star all-rounder Shahid Afridi was released by Karachi Kings as the six Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchises announced their retrained players for its fourth edition of the glitzy Twenty20 league on Tuesday.

Afridi, one of the greatest players in the shortest format of the game, will now be available in the player draft as the Kings retained Mohammad Amir, Babar Azam and New Zealand opener Colin Munro as their Platinum picks with South African all-rounder Colin Ingram moving to Diamond category as Player Ambassador.

All the six teams, including the former Multan Sultans and currently referred to as ‘The Sixth Team’ before its repackaged rights are sold by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after the November 20 player draft, announced their retentions.

Last year’s champions Islamabad United retained all three Platinum players in Luke Ronchi, Shadab Khan and Faheem Ashraf.

With Mohammad Hafeez going back into the draft, Peshawar Zalmi opted for the pace duo of Wahab Riaz and Hassan Ali in their Platinum roster. Zalmi will use their lone Platinum pick at the Draft to pick a foreign player while seasoned wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal moves to the Diamond roster as Player Ambassador.

Sunil Narine, who moved from Lahore Qalandars to Quetta Gladiators as part of a blockbuster trade, joins Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed to complete Quetta’s Platinum retentions. Star Australian all-rounder Shane Watson moves to Diamond as Player Mentor.

The Sixth Team’s retentions include star Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik in Platinum and left-arm pacer Mohammad Irfan in Diamond as Player Ambassador.

Lahore Qalandars, who have the first pick at this season’s draft, retained opening batsman Fakhar Zaman as their only Platinum player while leg-spinner Yasir Shah was retained in Diamond.

Fast-rising pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, appointed Lahore Qalandar Ambassador, drops down to Silver. And this means Lahore will go the Draft with four Silver players namely Shaheen, Sohail Akhtar, Hassan Khan and Agha Salman.

Since the Qalandars have already traded their second round Silver pick with the Gladiators, they have given up their first round Silver pick as a result of this move.

Retentions:

ISLAMABAD UNITED: Faheem Ashraf, Luke Ronchi, Shadab Khan (all Platinum), Mohammad Sami, Asif Ali (both Diamond), Rumman Raees (Gold; relegation request successful), Sahibzada Farhan, Zafar Gohar, Waqas Maqsood, Hussain Talat (all silver; Hussain named ambassador).

PESHAWAR ZALMI: Wahab Riaz, Hassan Ali (both Platinum), Kamran Akmal, Darren Sammy (both Diamond, Kamran named ambassador), Liam Dawson (Gold), Umaid Asif, Khalid Usman (both Silver), Sameen Gul (Emerging). KARACHI KINGS: Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir, Colin Munro (all Platinum), Colin Ingram, Imad Wasim, Usman Khan Shinwari (all Diamond, Ingram named ambassador), Ravi Bopara, Mohammad Rizwan (both Gold).

QUETTA GLADIATORS: Sarfaraz Ahmed, Sunil Narine (both Platinum), Shane Watson, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Nawaz (all Diamond, Watson named mentor), Rilee Roussow, Umar Akmal (both Gold, Roussow named ambassador), Anwar Ali, Saud Shakeel (both Silver).

LAHORE QALANDARS: Fakhar Zaman (Platinum), Yasir Shah (Diamond), Anton Devcich, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Rahat Ali (all Gold), Agha Salman, Sohail Akhtar, Hassan Khan (all Silver).

SIXTH TEAM: Shoaib Malik (Platinum), Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan (both Diamond, Irfan named ambassador), Shan Masood (Gold), Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Irfan Khan, Umar Siddiq (all Silver), Mohammad Junaid (Emerging).

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018