New Zealand's Kane Williamson will not be available for the Karachi leg of PSL 2025, the Karachi Kings announced.
Williamson, the 34-year-old former New Zealand captain, will not be available for the Kings for their home leg, running from April 12 to 21. He was picked in the Supplementary Category ahead of PSL 2025, being among the more high-profile international cricketers not picked in the IPL auction.
Why is Williamson not available for PSL's Karachi leg?
However, Williamson is now set to miss half of Karachi Kings' matches. The franchise did not specify the reason for his absence, but Williamson was part of the IPL commentary panel, and appeared on air in the T20 league that began three weeks before the PSL.
To compensate for his loss, the Kings have announced 18-year-old Saad Baig as his partial replacement.
Who is Saad Baig?
Baig, a left-handed wicketkeeper-batter, is considered by many as one of Pakistan's finest young talents. He led Pakistan at the U19 World Cup last year, taking them through to the semi-final, where they narrowly lost by one wicket to Australia. He didn't have a particularly impressive campaign on a personal level, managing 92 runs at 18.4, at a strike-rate of 69.17.
He did finish with 15 dismissals in the tournament (14 catches, one stumping), the most in the edition. It's the joint-best for a Pakistan wicketkeeper in a Youth ODI World Cup, level with Sarfaraz Ahmed's tally from the 2006 edition.
Litton Das ruled out, McDermott to replace him
The Karachi Kings also announced another wicketkeeper-batter – Australia's Ben McDermott – as a replacement for the injured Bangladesh batter Litton Das. The 30-year-old Das was ruled out after sustaining an injury during the Kings' practice session.
Karachi play their first game against Multan Sultans on April 12. Follow the full schedule here.
The full squads for all the PSL teams can be found here.
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