The draft for the 2021 edition of Pakistan Super League will be held on January 10 and will feature a host of international T20 stars – here’s all you need to know about the PSL draft.

The 2021 edition of PSL [ Pakistan Super League ] is scheduled to for a 30-day window from February 20 to March 22. The games are set to be held in Karachi and Lahore. While Karachi is set to host the first half of the competition, Lahore will be the venue for the playoffs, including the final.

The 2020 PSL was partly held in February last year, with the remainder of the tournament being forced to be suspended due to Covid-19. The remaining matches were held in November, with Karachi Kings emerging as champions.

The PSL 2021 draft will be held in Lahore.

PSL 2021 draft order

On December 23, 2020, Pakistan Cricket Board revealed the draft pick order for PSL 2021. According to the order based on a random draw, Islamabad United, the two-time PSL champions, will make the first pick, followed by Multan Sultans, Lahore Qalandars, Peshawar Zalmi, Quetta Gladiators and Karachi Kings. The subsequent picks for the next 17 rounds are set to be chosen based on a statistical tool.

The draft will contain 16 regular rounds along with two supplementary rounds. The first three rounds will be platinum categories, where teams will have to pick one local and one foreign player. The next three rounds will be diamond categories, where teams will again have to pick at least one local and one foreign player.

After that, there will be gold (three), silver (five) and emerging (two) categories, along with two supplementary (optional) categories.

PSL 20201 draft date

The PSL draft is scheduled to be held on January 10, 2021.

PSL 2021 platinum players

PCB have announced a list of 25 players for the platinum category. The players are as follows –

West Indies: Lendl Simmons, Carlos Brathwaite, Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Dwayne Bravo
England: Chris Jordan, Alex Hales, Moeen Ali, Dawid Malan, Tom Banton
South Africa: Colin Ingram, Imran Tahir, Rilee Rossouw, David Miller, Rassie van der Dussen, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel
Australia: Chris Lynn
Sri Lanka: Thisara Perera, Isuru Udana
Afghanistan: Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Bangladesh: Mustafizur Rahman
Nepal: Sandeep Lamichhane

Retained players and trades

Before the draft, each team will be allowed to retain a maximum of eight players. The following players have been retained by the teams so far:

Retained players

Islamabad United: Alex Hales (platinum); Asif Ali (gold); Colin Munro (diamond); Faheem Ashraf (diamond); Hussain Talat (gold, brand ambassador); Musa Khan (silver); Shadab Khan (platinum); Zafar Gohar (silver)

Karachi Kings: Amir Yamin (gold); Arshad Iqbal (emerging); Babar Azam (platinum); Colin Ingram (platinum); Imad Wasim (diamond); Mohammad Amir (platinum); Sharjeel Khan (gold); Waqas Maqsood (silver, brand ambassador)

Lahore Qalandars: Ben Dunk (gold); David Wiese (diamond); Dilbar Hussain (gold); Fakhar Zaman (diamond, brand ambassador); Haris Rauf (diamond); Mohammad Hafeez, Shaheen Shah Afridi (both platinum); Sohail Akhtar (silver)

Multan Sultans: Shahid Afridi (platinum), Imran Tahir (diamond, mentor); James Vince (gold); Khushdil Shah (diamond); Rilee Rossouw (platinum); Shan Masood (gold); Sohail Tanvir (diamond, brand ambassador); Usman Qadir (gold)

Peshawar Zalmi: Haider Ali (gold); Kamran Akmal (diamond); Liam Livingstone (gold); Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz (both platinum)

Quetta Gladiators: Anwar Ali (silver); Azam Khan (gold); Ben Cutting (diamond); Mohammad Hasnain (diamond); Mohammad Nawaz (diamond); Naseem Shah (gold); Sarfaraz Ahmed (platinum); Zahid Mahmood (silver, brand ambassador)

Released players

Islamabad United: Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Akif Javed, Amad Butt, Dale Steyn, Luke Ronchi, Phil Salt, Rassie van der Dussen, Rizwan Hussain, Rumman Raees, Saif Badar

Karachi Kings: Ali Khan, Awais Zia, Cameron Delport, Chadwick Walton, Chris Jordan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mitchell McCleneghan, Mohammad Rizwan, Umaid Asif, Umer Khan, Usama Mir

Lahore Qalandars: Abid Ali, Agha Salman, Chris Lynn, Dane Vilas, Farzan Raja, Jaahid Ali, Maaz Khan, Mohammad Faizan, Salman Butt, Salman Irshad, Samit Patel, Seekkuge Prasanna, Usman Shinwari

Multan Sultans: Ali Shafiq, Asad Shafiq, Bilawal Bhatti, Fabian Allen, Junaid Khan, Moeen Ali, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Irfan, Ravi Bopara, Rohail Nazir, Wayne Madsen, Zeeshan Ashraf

Peshawar Zalmi: Aamir Ali, Adil Amin, Amir Khan, Carlos Brathwaite, Hammad Azam, Hassan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kieron Pollard, Lewis Gregory, Liam Dawson, Mohammad Mohsin, Rahat Ali, Sikandar Raza, Tom Banton, Umar Amin, Yasir Shah

Quetta Gladiators: Aarish Ali Khan, Abdul Nasir, Ahmed Shehzad, Ahsan Ali, Fawad Ahmad, Jason Roy, Keemo Paul, Khurram Manzoor, Omair bin Yousuf, Shane Watson, Sohail Khan, Tymal Mills, Umar Akmal

Player list for PSL 2021 draft

Squads will have at least 16 or 18 members; the 16-member squads will have to consist of five foreign and 11 local players, while the 18-member squads will have to include either six foreign and 12 local players, or five foreign players and 13 local players.

The PSL 2021 draft will feature over 400 players from as many as 20 countries. Here’s the complete list of players:

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