West Indies all-rounder and T20 specialist Kieron Pollard will join his West Indies teammate Chris Gayle in a power-packed line up of stars for Karachi Kings during the second edition of the Pakistan Super League. There is also a reunion for Sri Lanka's former batting stalwarts and captains, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, who were also picked for Karachi Kings.
The side also features big names such as last year's Man of the tournament, Ravi Bopara, Mohammad Amir, Dwayne Smith and Babar Azam, among others.
Lahore Qalandars, who ended with the wooden spoon last year and thus got the first pick option in the draft for 2017, used their advantage to good effect. They were able to scoop up New Zealand's Brendon McCullum and Grant Elliot, Australia's Shaun Tait, West Indies' Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine and Pakistan's Umar Akmal, Yasir Shar and Sohail Tanvir among others.
Peshawar Zalmi sprung a couple of surprises during the draft. They announced that legendary Pakistan batsman Younis Khan has been drafted in as batting consultant for the team. Shahid Afridi, who led the team last year, then took the stage to announce that he will pass on the responsibility of handling the team to Darren Sammy. The side also roped in Eoin Morgan, Wahab Riaz, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Hafeez, Chris Jordan, Tamim Iqbal, Alex Hales and Kamran Akmal into their side. Afridi, Sammy, Riaz and Hafeez were already part of the team last term. Peshawar Zalmi also brought in Afghanistan wicket-keeper Mohammad Shahzad into their side.
Quetta Gladiators retained their captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, along with Kevin Pietersen, Luke Wright and Ahemd Shahzad while Tymal Mills, Carlos Brathwaite and David Willey were freshly drafted into the team.
Islamabad United, the champions from the previous edition, kept faith in their squad that won them the trophy last year, opting to retain a majority of its players. The did, however, bring in England's new batting star Ben Duckett into the squad.
Lahore Qalandars
Brendon McCullum, Sunil Narine, Umar Akmal, Sohail Tanvir, Dwayne Bravo, Yasir Shah, Anton Devcich, Mohammad Rizwan, Cameron Delport, Azhar Ali, Amir Yamin, Zafar Gohar, Fakhar Zaman, Bilawal Bhatti, Ghulam Mudassar, Usman Qadir, Grant Elliott, Shaun Tait, Saif Badar, Mohammad Irfan
Karachi Kings
Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Amir, Ravi Bopara, Kumar Sangakkara, Imad Wasim, Babar Azam, Ryan McLaren, Sohail Khan, Saifullah Bangash, Shahzaib Hasan, Khurram Manzoor, Kashif Bhatti, Abrar Ahmed, Abdul Amid, Dwayne Smith, Mahela Jayawardene, Usama Mir, Rahat Ali, Amad Alam
Peshawar Zalmi
Shahid Afridi, Eoin Morgan, Wahab Riaz, Shakib Al Hasan, Darren Sammy, Mohammad Hafeez, Chris Jordan, Tamim Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood, Junaid Khan, Imran Khan Jr, Iftikhar Ahmed, Harris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Asghar, Alex Hales, Mohammad Shahzad, Irfan Khan, Khushdil Shah
Quetta Gladiators
Kevin Pietersen, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Ahmed Shehzad, Carlos Brathwaite, Luke Wright, Anwar Ali, Tymal Mills, Umar Gul, Zulfiqar Babar, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Nabi, Asad Shafiq, Saad Nasim, Umar Amin, Hassan Khan, Noor Ali, David Willey, Rovman Powell, Bismillah Khan, Mir Hamsa
Islamabad United
Misbah-ul-Haq, Shane Watson, Andre Russell, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Samuel Badree, Mohammad Sami, Khalid Latif, Brad Haddin, Sam Billings, Saeed Ajmal, Asif Ali, Rumman Raees, Imran Khalid, Amad Butt, Hussain Talat, Ben Duckett, Shadab Khan, Zuhaib Khan
(Cricbuzz)
