Nine Australians named for PSL draft

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) has released a list of 308 foreign and local players, including nine Australians, for the competition's inaugural draft.

The draft for February’s tournament will be held in Lahore on December 21-22 and will feature as many as 171 foreign players.

Players have been divided into five categories; Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver and Emerging. Each team will be required to pick three players from each of the three top categories (Platinum, Diamond and Gold) and two from the Emerging category. A team will be able to pick up to five players from the Silver category.

Three of the nine Australians involved – Shane Watson, Brad Haddin and Brett Lee – have been listed in the top category while four – Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Shaun Tait and Nathan Hauritz – were placed in Diamond category. The remaining two Aussies – Ben Laughlin and Michael Beer – were named in the Gold category.

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T20 veteran Brad Hodge is one of nine Australians listed // Getty

Six of the nine Australians listed - Watson, Lee, Haddin, Tait, Hodge and Hogg - are 50-over World Cup winners.

Allrounder Watson is arguably the biggest Australian player on offer, but his international commitments mean he may not be available during the first week of the tournament, which will run from February 4-23 in Dubai and Sharjah. Australia are set to play ODIs against New Zealand on February 3, 6 and 8.

Legendary quick Lee, who earlier this week was picked at $US100,000 in the Masters Champions League (MCL), will also be unavailable for most of the PSL as the MCL is scheduled to take place between January 28 and February 14, also in the United Arab Emirates. That means of the Australians in the top category, only Haddin is guaranteed to be available for the whole tournament.

Fifty-nine English players were named, including Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell and James Anderson, who were all named in the highest category. Contrary to earlier reports, Test captain Alastair Cook has not been named in the draft.

The remaining foreign players named in the Platinum category are Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy, Andre Russell, Dwayne Smith, Marlon Samules (all West Indies), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Lasith Malinga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka) and Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh).

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Kevin Pietersen is sure to be highly sought after in the PSL draft // Getty

Nine local players were named in the Platinum category: Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan, Sohail Tanvir and Sarfraz Ahmed. 

Returning fast bowler Mohammad Aamir found a place in the Gold category, but Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt have been given the cold shoulder despite being allowed to play the domestic one-day cricket from next month.

West Indies off-spinner Sunil Narine was dropped from the draft after the ICC suspended him two weeks ago for an illegal bowling action, which allows him to play domestic cricket in the Caribbean only. Samuels, who who was reported for a suspect bowling action in October, may not be available as an allrounder.

Sri Lanka duo Sangakkara and Jayawardene will not be available for a large part of the PSL as they have also signed to play the MCL, whereas a few other Sri Lankans will have international assignments, with the Islanders pencilled in to play three T20 Internationals in India in February.

Just 15 of the 27 players in the Platinum category will be picked up (three in each side) by the five franchises – Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad and Quetta. If a player goes unpicked in a certain category, he will have the choice of getting relegated to the next category. Some players, however, have said they will exit the draft if they don't get picked up in case they don’t go for their initial asking price.

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Sri Lankan greats Sangakkara and Jayawardene are among 27 Platinum players // Getty

The price of each category is yet to be revealed, but cricket.com.au understands a player in Platinum category will get close to $US125,000. Each team will have a purse of $US1.1 million.

The franchise owners can pick five overseas players in their squads, but only four can be picked the playing XI. A team will be able to spend another $US100,000 on the coaches and support staff.

Fourteen players from the Associate countries – four from Ireland, three from Afghanistan, two each from Canada, Scotland, the USA and one from the UAE – will also fancy their chances in the draft.

All five teams will finalise their coaching panels in the coming days, but it remains to be seen if foreign coaches will travel to Lahore to be part of the draft.

The PSL will be the first time Pakistan's domestic T20 tournament will feature players from the other Test playing nations.

Pakistan Super League Draft

Australians
Shane Watson, Brett Lee, Brad Haddin (Platinum), Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Shaun Tait, Nathan Hauritz (Diamond), Michael Beer, Ben Laughlin (Gold)

Platinum players
1) Chris Gayle, 2) Kevin Pietersen, 3) Shane Watson, 4) Shoaib Malik, 5) Shahid Afridi, 6) Dwayne Bravo, 7) Darren Sammy, 8) Andre Russell, 9) Dwayne Smith, 10) Tillakaratne Dilshan, 11) Lasith Malinga, 12) Kumar Sangakkara, 13) Mahela Jayawardene, 14) Angelo Mathews, 15) Brad Haddin, 16) Jimmy Anderson, 17) Ian Bell, 18) Mohammad Hafeez, 19) Misbah-ul Haq, 20) Younis Khan, 21) Wahab Riaz, 22) Mohammad Irfan, 23) Sohail Tanvir, 24) Sarfraz Ahmed, 25) Malron Samuels, 26) Brett Lee, 27) Shakib Al Hasan