Chris Gayle will partner with Tom Banton as the hard-hitting openers were picked in the Pakistan Super League draft by Quetta Gladiators. Chris Lynn will move from Lahore Qalandars to Multan Sultans while Hasan Ali and David Miller were picked by Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi respectively.
Qalandars will have the services of Rashid Khan, who also have Joe Denly and Samit Patel. The draft ended with Sultans picking Carlos Brathwaite while Dale Steyn, who has opted out of the next edition of the Indian Premier League, will feature for Gladiators. There were no takers for the top-ranked T20I batsman, Dawid Malan, with the left-hander expected to be on international duty as part of the England squad during the tournament.
Mohammad Rizwan, fresh from his career-best performance against New Zealand in the third T20I, was picked by Sultans with Adam Lyth also returning to the franchise.
Among Pakistan players, Imam ul Haq will join the likes of Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz and Kamran Akmal at Zalmi, while two-time PSL winner Iftikhar Ahmed picked by United, who beefed up their death bowling by adding Chris Jordan to their line-up as well.
Afghanistan’s pair of Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman also found pickers with the former going to Karachi while the latter was chosen by Zalmi. All-rounder Dan Christian will also join Nabi, with Sherfane Rutherford heading to Zalmi. Philip Salt, the hard-hitting batsman, will stay with United and will be joined by countryman Reece Topley.
The tournament will start on February 20 and the final will be played on March 22 with the tournament to be completely played in Karachi and Lahore. The decision was taken to restrict the tournament to just two venues to restrict the movement of the six franchises because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
