The PSL entered the IPL window this year, to improve the quality and availability of foreign players it could recruit. In this regard, the calculated risk they took appears to have paid off, with the roster for the tenth edition of the PSL featuring the widest range of high-profile foreign players they have managed in the post-covid era .
David Warner, Daryl Mitchell, Jason Holder, Rassie van der Dussen and Kane Williamson were among the biggest names the PSL entered in this year’s draft, which was held at the sprawling Hazuri Bagh of the Lahore Fort. Although the ceremony itself was a long and choppy affair, which from start to finish lasted seven hours, the clunky packaging shouldn’t detract from what may be a very decent product after all.
For the first time, the partial availability of players, so often a hindrance in previous editions, was not a problem. The only other cricket during the period when the PSL will be played – between the start of April and the end of May – is the IPL 2025. The IPL auction has concluded and all remaining players are definitely available, which effectively means that every player in the draft communicated in full. willingness to fully participate in the PSL.
The decision was not made without compromise; Rashid Khan, for example, signed a three-year contract with Lahore Qalandars in 2023, but will be in the IPL instead. But players from Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, so often unavailable because the PSL’s traditional February-March window conflicted with their domestic international seasons, were recruited in droves.
New Zealanders, in particular, were popular; more than half of the platinum draft picks were Kiwis: Finn Allen, Mitchell, Adam Milne, Michael Bracewell and Mark Chapman were all chosen in the highest category, all participating for the first time in the PSL. They were completed in the additional selection with Williamson and Kyle Jamieson, also debutants.
Over the years, the PSL has valued overseas strike power, with each franchise confident that there was enough fast bowling domestically to circulate without being spread too thin. That changed this time around: Milne, Sean Abbott, Jamieson, Nahid Rana, Holder, Corbin Bosch, Alzarri Joseph and Josh Little were among the quicks recruited from abroad.
This may be partly explained by the availability of players who would not otherwise be options for the PSL, but perhaps also by the diminishing confidence in local fast bowling talent among franchises.
There have been departures and farewells for players who have become synonymous with a particular franchise. Faheem Ashraf left Islamabad United after being a one-franchise player so far, winning three titles. If there was any general indication that his star was waning, Quetta Gladiators clearly thought otherwise; they used their joker on him to choose him in the Platinum category, rather than the Silver category that had been assigned to him.
There was also movement among the Gladiators. Sarfaraz Ahmed, their captain for the first eight seasons and player for each of the last nine, was not in the draft; Gladiators owner Nadeem Omar said he will be involved with the franchise in a “new role.”
Mohammad Hasnain, meanwhile, also leaves Gladiators to join Multan Sultans. Poignantly, Ihsanullah, the Sultans’ fastest bowler until 2023, was not selected after an independent review found that the PCB’s botched handling of an elbow injury had caused him harm important. Sultans owner Ali Tareen said last week that the medical consensus was that he would never reach those speeds again.
In the meantime, a family was divided. Last year, Naseem Shah and his two younger brothers, Hunain and Ubaid, played for United; Hunain then scored the winning points. This time, the Sultans opted for the younger side, with Ubaid leaving the reigning champions to join the 2021 winners.
Last year, the PCB told PK Press Club that it should coexist with the IPL rather than compete with it. This time around, the PSL project may have wanted some organization and production quality, but offered a small preview of what it might look like once April rolls around.
