The categories of Pakistani players have been renew for next year’s edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL 2024).
Registration of foreign players started on October 25. The draft is tentatively scheduled for mid-December.
LAHORE, November 10, 2023: Nine players have their categories upgraded following the category renewal process for local players for the upcoming edition of the HBL Pakistan Super League.
The Pakistan Cricket Board had earlier opened the registration window for foreign players as well.
The flagship event is tentatively scheduled from February 8 to March 24, 2024.
(PSL 2024) Upgrade from Gold to Diamond category
Both Quetta Gladiators players Naseem Shah and Iftikhar Ahmed have been upgraded from Diamond to Platinum.
Sarfraz Ahmed has been moved from gold to diamond. Peshawar Zalmi’s wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Haris has also been converted from gold to diamond.
Fast bowler Salman Irshad won silver medal instead of gold. Multan Sultans fast bowlers Abbas Afridi and Ehsanullah have both been promoted to the gold category, after playing as emerging picks last year.
Islamabad United’s wicketkeeper-batsman Azam Khan and fast all-rounder Faheem Ashraf have also been upgraded from gold to diamond category.
Zeeshan Zameer has moved from Emerging to Silver while Mubasher Khan has moved to Gold from Emerging.
Tayyab Tahir of Karachi Kings has been upgraded from Silver to Gold while Qasim Akram has been upgraded to Emerging Gold.
Lahore Qalandars’ Kamran Ghulam and Zaman Khan have been promoted to Silver and Rising Gold respectively.
Some players have been demoted. The changes include Muhammad Nawaz (Quetta, Platinum to Diamond), Muhammad Hasnain (Quetta, Diamond to Gold), Haider Ali (Karachi, Platinum to Gold) and Asif Ali (Islamabad, Platinum to Diamond). Players representing Pakistan at the international level cannot go below the gold category.
As part of the category renewal process, franchise representatives were required to vote for each player.
Teams were not allowed to vote for their players but submit review requests at the end of this voting phase.
Consideration of brand value
After this, Director International Cricket Usman Wahla, National Selection Committee Member Toafif Ahmed and Manager Partnerships Shoaib Khalid reviewed the list, which is the top player acquisition for HBL PSL from 2021 onwards. Brand value was considered while finalizing the categories of local players.
Franchises will now submit relegation requests for players before finalizing retention.
After relegation requests are submitted, all teams are given the opportunity to fulfill the player’s base category.
If the player’s base category does not match, the player may be relegated to a category below his base category.
U23 players cannot be part of the squad as an emerging player for more than two years unless they have played nine or fewer matches in those two years.
Renewal of local category players (team wise)
Islamabad United – Shadab Khan (Platinum), Asif Ali, Muhammad Wasim Jr., Hasan Ali, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf (All Diamond), Sohaib Maqsood, Abrar Ahmed, Roman Raees, Zafar Gohar, Mubasher Khan (All Gold), Zeeshan. Zameer (Silver), Hasan Nawaz (Emerging)
Karachi Kings – Imad Wasim (Platinum), Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Amir (both Diamond), Haider Ali, Aamir Yamin, Sharjeel Khan, Mir Hamza, Tayyab Tahir, Musa Khan, Qasim Akram (All Gold), Mohammad Akhlaq, Mohammad Umar, Akif Javed (all silver), Irfan Khan Niazi, Faisal Akram (both emerging).
Lahore Qalandars – Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Fakhar Zaman (all Platinum), Hussain Talat, Abdullah Shafiq, Kamran Ghulam, Mirza Tahir Baig, Zaman Khan (all Gold), Dilbar Hussain, Ahmed Daniyal, Ahsan Bhatti, Jalat Khan (all ) Silver), Chavez Irfan (emerging)
Multan Sultans – Muhammad Rizwan (Platinum), Shan Masood, Khushdil Shah, Usama Mir (All Diamond), Abbas Afridi, Ehsanullah, Arafat Minhas, Shahnawaz Dahani, Anwar Ali (All Gold), Samin Gul, Sarwar Afridi, Imad Butt, Muhammad Ilyas (All Silver)
Peshawar Zalmi – Babar Azam (Platinum), Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Haris, Saeem Ayub (All Diamond), Danish Aziz, Arshad Iqbal, Aamir Jamal, Salman Irshad, Usman Qadir, Haris Sohail, Sufyan Muqim (All Gold), Khurram Shahzad ( All gold (silver), Haseebullah, Saad Masood (both emerging)
Quetta Gladiators – Naseem Shah, Iftikhar Ahmed (both Platinum), Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Hafeez, Sarfraz Ahmed (all Diamond), Muhammad Hasnain, Ahsan Ali, Umar Akmal, Umeer Bin Yousaf, Saud Shakeel (all Gold), Bismillah Khan , Umeed Asif, Mohammad Zahid, Arshadullah (all silver), Abdul Wahid Banglazai, Amil Khan, Yasir Khan, Khawaja Mohammad Nafee (all emerging).
