KARACHI: Sri Lanka named 56 foreign players including 13 Pakistani cricketers for its upcoming Sri Lankan Premiere League (SLPL).

The list includes a host of current, former and new players from Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, New Zealand, and West Indies. Foreign players will play alongside Sri Lankan players in the tournament.

The tournament, emulating the successful Indian Premiere League (IPL), does not have any Indian or English player participating in the event.

Pakistani players selected for the tournament include, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul, Misbah-ul-Haq, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Imran Farhat, Hammad Azam, Imran Nazir, Abdur Rehman and Ahmad Shahzad.

Pakistani star Afridi who is known for his smashing hits in the Twenty20 format and has been named icon player in SLPL that begins on August 10.