Quetta Gladiators bag World Cup winner Jason Roy for PSL's 5th edition

Published December 6, 2019
PSL's drafting ceremony was held in Lahore on Friday. — Screengrab from Pakistan Super League's live telecast
PSL's drafting ceremony was held in Lahore on Friday. — Screengrab from Pakistan Super League's live telecast

The drafting ceremony for Pakistan Super League's (PSL) fifth edition was held in Lahore on Friday, with the six franchises announcing the players they have bagged for the upcoming tournament set to begin in February 2020.

Players were drafted in six different categories: Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver, Emerging and Supplementary.

The highlights of the ceremony were Jason Roy being the first player to be picked in the platinum category and Sharjeel Khan's return to PSL as part of the Karachi Kings.

Read: Karachi Kings — the PSL franchise hated by many of its own

Platinum category

In the platinum category, the series' defending champions Quetta Gladiators bagged England opener Jason Roy, who was the evening's first platinum pick.

England's Moeen Ali and South Africa's Rilee Rossouw were picked by Multan Sultans in their platinum category.

South Africa's Dale Steyn and his compatriot Colin Ingram were bagged by United.

Lahore Qalandars, PSL's least successful team, picked Chris Lynn in their platinum category. Meanwhile, Karachi Kings chose Alex Hales.

Diamond category

New Zealand's Colin Munro, who was part of Karachi Kings in PSL's fourth edition, was Islamabad United's first diamond pick. Kings went for English player Chris Jordan.

England's Tom Banton was bagged by Peshawar Zalmi, while Quetta Gladiators went for Australia's Ben Cutting.

Peshawar Zalmi bagged veteran Shoaib Malik, while Multan Sultans picked the evening's first wild card entry, Zeeshan Ashraf.

Ashraf's pick enabled the Sultans to pick another diamond player and they went for Ravi Bopara.

Gold category

England's Samit Patel was bagged by Lahore Qalandars in the gold category, while United picked Rumman Raees.

Multan Sultans bagged the experienced Sohail Tanvir.

Karachi Kings' surprised by picking Sharjeel Khan, who has recently returned from a ban that was slapped for his involvement in a spot-fixing scandal in the PSL tournament in 2017.

Their second pick was Cameron Delport.

Liam Dawson was picked by Zalmi, while Fawad Ahmed was retained by the Gladiators.

Silver category

In the silver category, Islamabad United picked Phil Salt, Zafar Gohar, and Ammad Butt.

Quetta Gladiators bagged Sohail Khan and Abdul Nasir. The defending champions also retained Tymal Mills in the category.

Meanwhile, Peshawar Zalmi picked Mohammad Mohsin, Rahat Ali, South African quick Dwaine Pretorius, and Adil Amin.

Multan Sultans reigned in Khushdil Shah, Usman Qadir, son of the legendary leg-spinner Abdul Qadir, and Jamaican Fabian Allen.

Sekkugge Prasanna, Ben Dunk, Farzan Raja and Jahid Ali were picked by Lahore Qalandars.

Karachi Kings picked Mohammad Rizwan, Umaid Asif, Zahid Mahmood, England's Dan Lawrence, and medium-pacer Ali Khan from USA.

Emerging

Among the players announced in the emerging category of the roster, Rohail Nazir was taken by Multan Sultans, Arish Ali Khan by Quetta Gladiators, Arshad Iqbal by Karachi Kings, Aqib Javed by Islamabad United, Amir Khan by Peshawar Zalmi and Muhammad Faizan by Lahore Qalandars.

Additionally, in another round of the category, Ahmad Safi Abdullah was picked by Islamabad United, Amir Ali was chosen by Peshawar Zalmi and Azam Khan by the Quetta Gladiators.

Supplementary

In the supplementary round, Karachi Kings went for Liam Plunkett, Imran Tahir went back to the Multan Sultans, and Liam Livingstone, who was with the Karachi Kings last season, joined Peshawar Zalmi.

Keemo Paul, a debutant to the league, was taken by Quetta Gladiators.

Additionally, Windies player Lendl Simmons went to Lahore Qalandars, Islamabad United went for Saif Badar, and the Gladiators settled for Khurram Manzoor.

Bilawal Bhatti moved to Multan Sultans, Haider Ali Khan was taken by Peshawar and Lahore Qalandars went for Dilawar Hussain.

Rassie van der Dussen was Islamabad United's final pick and Karachi Kings ended it with Awais Zia.

An overview of the final draft for PSL 2020. — Photo courtesy PSL
An overview of the final draft for PSL 2020. — Photo courtesy PSL

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