In a repeat of last year’s final, the opening match of the tournament will take place in Multan. The Qalandars bettered the Sultans in 2022 by 42 runs to win their maiden PSL title.

A total of 36 foreign players were picked in the draft on 15 December 2022, and seventeen English players have been picked in total. Jason Roy and Will Smeed feature for the Quetta Gladiators, the latter having signed a white-ball-only deal with Somerset in November. Roy played six games for the Gladiators last year, scoring 303 runs at a strike rate of 170.22, including a 49-ball century. Alex Hales will join Islamabad United from February 26 after impressing during PSL 7.

Richard Gleeson, Tom Curran, Gus Atkinson, Will Jacks and Tymal Mills have all also picked up deals as supplementary and replacement picks for those who will depart for international commitments. Moeen Ali was drafted by Islamabad United but is likely to miss most of the tournament due to England’s white-ball tour to Bangladesh.

Shaheen Shah Afridi will return to competitive action for the Lahore Qalandars after suffering a knee injury in the T20 World Cup final. The franchise T20 league took place under strict Covid-19 protocols last season, with a double round robin format playing out in Karachi, and subsequently Lahore.

Much like the SA20, the PSL 2023 will see each team play each other twice before the top four qualify for the playoff stage of the tournament.

PSL 2023: Full squad list for each team

Islamabad United

Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Colin Munro, Paul Stirling, Alex Hales, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abrar Ahmed, Sohaib Maqsood, Rumman Raees, Zeeshan Zamir, Hassan Nawaz, Moeen Ali (available from March 14), Mubasir Khan, Tom Curran, Zafar Gohar, Gus Atkinson (partial replacement for Rahmanullah Gurbaz), Tymal Mills (partial replacement for Alex Hales), Rassie van der Dussen (partial replacement for Moeen Ali).

Karachi Kings

Haider Ali, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik, Aamir Yamin, Mir Hamza, Sharjeel Khan, Qasim Akram, Matthew Wade, Imran Tahir, James Vince, James Fuller, Andrew Tye, Tayyab Tahir, Mohammad Akhlaq, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Tabraiz Shamsi, Mohammad Umar, Ben Cutting, Musa Khan, Faisal Akram (partial replacement for Tabraiz Shamsi), Adam Rossington (partial replacement for James Vince)

Lahore Qalandars

Rashid Khan, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, David Wiese, Abdullah Shafique, Harry Brook, Kamran Ghulam, Zaman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Hussain Talat, Sikandar Raza, Liam Dawson, Dilbar Hussain, Mirza Tahir Baig, Ahmed Danlyal, Shawaiz Irfan, Jordan Cox, Jalat Khan, Ahsan Bhatti, Sam Billings (partial replacement for Rashid Khan), Shane Dadswell (replacement for Harry Brook), Kusal Mendis (partial replacement for Jordan Cox)

Multan Sultans

Mohammad Rizwan, Khushdil Shah, Rilee Rossouw, Shan Masood, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tim David, Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah, David Miller, Josh Little, Akeal Hosein, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Sameen Gul, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Sarwar, Adil Rashid, Arafat Minhas, Kieron Pollard, Ammad Butt, Wayne Parnell (partial/full replacement for Adil Rashid), Izharulhaq Naveed (partial replacement for David Miller)

Peshawar Zalmi

Babar Azam, Sherfane Rutherford, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Haris, Aamir Jamal, Salman Irshad, Tom-Kohler Cadmore, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Rovman Powell, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Danish Aziz, Arshad Iqbal, Saim Ayub, Usman Qadir, Suifyan Muqeem, Haseeb Ullah, Jimmy Neesham, Khurram Shahzad, Haris Sohail, Richard Gleeson (partial replacement for Rovman Powell), Peter Hatzoglou (partial replacement for Mujeeb ur Rahman)

Quetta Gladiators

Mohammad Nawaz, Iftikhar Ahmed, Jason Roy, Mohammad Hasnain, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Naveen ul Haq, Umar Akmal, Will Smeed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Naseem Shah, Odean Smith, Ahsan Ali, Umaid Asif, Muhammad Zahid, Abdul Bangalzai, Aimal Khan, Martin Guptill, Omair Bin Yousuf, Qais Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, Dwaine Pretorius (partial replacement for Odean Smith), Will Jacks (partial replacement for Jason Roy), Nuwan Thushara (partial replacement for Naveen ul Haq)