KARACHI: Today in Karachi will be the players’ draught for the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2023, where six franchises will choose among 1,000 local and foreign players to fill 61 positions. When the retention and transfer windows closed last month, Peshawar Zalmi had maintained seven players while five of the six PSL teams had kept eight players.
These teams will now complete a squad of 18 players, which will include up to two players from additional categories and up to three players from each of the gold, silver, and platinum categories. In the first three categories—platinum, diamond, and gold—teams may have up to three international players; however, in platinum and diamond, at least one foreign player is required.
Teams must choose five foreign players for a roster of 16, but they can choose six for a squad of 18. 491 Pakistani players and 517 international players are up for selection tomorrow. The first choice in the draught will be made by the reigning champion Lahore Qalandars. Multan Sultans and Quetta Gladiators will be selected second and third, respectively.
Karachi Kings and Islamabad United will make the fourth and fifth selections in the first round, respectively, and Peshawar Zalmi will make the sixth selection. Rashid Khan and Shaheen Shah Afridi were retained by Qalandars in the platinum round, and they would select a third player. There will be two options available in the platinum category for each of the remaining five teams.
Qalandars will be able to choose one diamond, two gold rounds, and three silver rounds. Prior to adding two supplemental players, they can also add one player from the developing category to their 16-man roster.
Mohammad Aamir, Shoaib Malik, and Imad Wasim were kept by Karachi Kings in the diamond division; they will not choose a player in this round, but they will have all three selections available in the gold round. Additionally, the Multan Sultans have kept all three diamond players, Shan Masood, Khushdil Shah, and Rilee Rossouw, as well as two gold-level players, Tim David and Shahnawaz Dahani.
The Sultans are allowed three selections in the first nine rounds, and they are also required to select at least one international player in the platinum division. Additionally, they get access to all five silver selections. Slamabad has two platinum picks, one diamond pick, and no gold picks. Along with two emerging and two supplemental selections, they also have three silver round picks available.
They will have to use all three of their first-round selections to select international players because they didn’t keep any players from other countries in the top nine positions. The Peshawar Zalmi have two platinum selections, one diamond, and two gold round picks available after announcing Babar Azam as their new captain earlier today.