The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has released the preliminary list of Gold Category foreign players for the HBL Pakistan Super League Player Draft 2020 as well as a list of 325 local players who have been assigned Gold, Silver and Emerging categories.
The list of 325 local players includes all cricketers from the domestic first and second XI squads as well as U-19 cricketers. As part of this year's policy, players who have already represented Pakistan at the international level have been assigned a base category of Gold. The cut-off date for these records was the same that applied to category renewals of local players that took place last month. The list was reviewed and approved by Coordinator - National Selection Committee, Nadeem Khan and Head of Player Acquisition & Management PSL, Imran Ahmad Khan.
HBL PSL rules require teams to have at least two Emerging cricketers in a squad of 16. Players need to be U23 as on 1 January 2020 to qualify for this category. Each team can now nominate up to six emerging players and up to two talent hunt discoveries that may be added to this list.
In the Gold category, 48 players from England, 40 West Indies, 19 Sri Lanka, 10 Bangladesh, six Afghanistan, four each from Australia and New Zealand, three each from Ireland, South Africa and Zimbabwe, and one each from Canada, the Netherlands, Scotland and the United States of America have been registered.
Some of the most prominent players in the preliminary Gold Category are: Gulbadin Naib, Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad (all Afghanistan), Ben Dunk (Australia), Mehdy Hasan Miraz, Mosaddek Hossain, Taskin Ahmed (all Bangladesh), Ben Duckett, Chris Wood, Jade Dernback, Jamie Overton, Joe Clarke, Reece Topley, Samit Patel, Saqib Mahmood (all England), George Dockrell, Kevin O'Brien, Paul Stirling (all Ireland), Anton Devcich, Jeetan Patel (both New Zealand), Dwaine Pretorious, Vernon Philander, Wayne Parnell (all South Africa), Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dinesh Chandimal, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Kumara, Lahiru Thirimanne, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep, Seekkuge Prasanna, Suranga Lakmal, Upul Tharanga, Wanindu Hasaranga (all Sri Lanka), Andre Fletcher, Dwayne Smith, Jerome Taylor, Kieran Powell, Shane Dowrich, Sheldon Cottrell (all West Indies) and Brendan Taylor, Kyle Jarvis and Sikandar Raza (all Zimbabwe).
The PCB will announce updated lists across all Categories by or before 21st November.
Each side in PSL-20 must have a minimum squad of 16 players and can have a maximum squad of 18 players as per the following combination - three platinum, three diamond, three gold, five silver, two emerging and two supplementary (optional). Each side will have to pick three foreign players in their first nine picks.
Revised salary caps are:
Platinum - PKR23m-PKR34m (approx. US$147K-US$218K); Diamond - PKR11.5m-PKR16m (approx. US$73K-US$103K; Gold - PKR6.9m-PKR8.9m (approx. US$44K-US$58K); Silver - PKR2.4m-PKR5.4m (approx. US$15K-US$35K); Emerging - PKR1m-PKR1.5m (approx. US$6.5K-US$9.5K).
Budget cap for the optional supplementary round has been fixed at PKR 19 million (approx. US$120K) and the teams will be allowed to pick up to two players in this round. Event schedule will be announced in due course, a PCB spokesman, said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019