The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday confirmed the category renewal of 89 local players for the upcoming Pakistan Super League (PSL) season, promoting five players, including Salman Ali Agha, to the Platinum category.
A press release released by the PCB said the five players transferred in the Platinum category were T20I captain Salman Ali Agha, Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali and Abrar Ahmed.
“In the future, each franchise will be able to retain a maximum of four players, limited to one player per category,” the press release indicates.
He added that once the retentions are over, the teams will participate in the first-ever PSL player auction on February 11 to complete their squads.
The statement also said that the registration date for foreign players has been extended until February 3.
According to the PCB, among the newly designated Platinum players, only Sahibzada was previously in the Gold category, while the rest made the jump from the Diamond category.
“Shadab Khan, Naseem Shah, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Babar Azam, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan, Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Amir managed to remain in the Platinum category after also featuring in the HBL PSL X in the same category,” the statement added.
A total of 11 players are in the Diamond category, including three from Quetta Gladiators, three from Multan Sultans, two each from Lahore Qalandars and Karachi Kings, one from Peshawar Zalmi and none from Islamabad United, he said.
Mohammad Salman Mirza, Sufyan Moqim and Mohammad Wasim Jr went from gold to diamond, the statement added.
Among the 32 players assigned to the Gold category this year, four each are from Islamabad United and Lahore Qalandars, eight from Karachi Kings, six from Peshawar Zalmi and five each from Multan Sultans and Quetta Gladiators.
The statement added that Multan Sultans have seven players in the Silver category, Lahore Qalandars have three, Peshawar Zalmi and Islamabad United have two each, and Quetta Gladiators and Karachi Kings have one each.
Meanwhile, the emerging category includes 14 players, three each of whom are listed at Islamabad United, Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi; two each to Quetta Gladiators and Multan Sultans, and one to Lahore Qalandars, it said.
“Hunain Shah, Ubaid Shah, Mirza Mamoon Imtiaz, Mohammad Naeem and Mohammad Azab are the players who moved from emerging to silver for the upcoming season, while Hasan Nawaz went to gold after featuring in the HBL PSL X in the emerging category,” the PCB added.
Local category renewals (per team):
Islamabad United — Shadab Khan, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Imad Wasim (all Platinum), Azam Khan, Haider Ali, Salman Irshad, Rumman Raees (all Gold), Mohammad Faiq, Hunain Shah (both Silver), Saad Masood, Mohammad Shahzad, Mohammad Ghazi Ghori (all emerging)
Kings of Karachi — Hasan Ali (Platinum), Mohmmad Abbas Afridi, Shan Masood (both diamond), Khushdil Shah, Aamir Jamal, Mohammad Irfan Khan, Mir Hamza, Zahid Mehmood, Omair Bin Yousuf, Shahnawaz Dahani, Arafat Minhas (all gold), Mirza Mamoon Imtiaz (silver), Muhammad Riazullah, Fawad Ali, Saad Baig (all emerging)
Lahore Qalandars — Shaheen Shah Afridi, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf (all platinum), Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Salman Mirza (all diamond), Zaman Khan, Jahandad Khan, Asif Afridi, Asif Ali (all gold), Muhammad Akhlaq, Mohammad Naeem, Mohammad Azab (all silver), Momin Qamar (emerging)
Sultans of Multan — Mohammad Rizwan (Platinum), Usama Mir, Iftikhar Ahmed, Usman Khan (all diamonds), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Faisal Akram, Akif Javed, Tayyab Tahir (all gold), Yasir Khan, Muhammad Amir Barki, Mohammad Junaid, Humayun Altaf, Ali Imran, Jahanzaib Sultan, Ubaid Shah (all silver), Shahid Aziz, Mohammad Zulkifal (both emerging)
Peshawar Zalmi — Babar Azam, Saim Ayub (both Platinum), Sufyan Moqim (Diamond), Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Ali, Abdul Samad, Hussain Talat, Ahmed Daniyal, Ihsanullah (all Gold), Arif Yaqoob and Mehran Mumtaz (both Silver), Abdullah Fazal, Ali Raza, Maaz Sadaqat (all emerging)
Gladiators of Quetta — Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Amir, Abrar Ahmed (all Platinum), Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Usman Tariq (all Diamond), Khurram Shahzad, Haseebullah Khan, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay, Hasan Nawaz, Danish Aziz (all Gold), Ali Majid (Silver), Mohammad Zeeshan, Shamyl Hussain (both emerging)
