The PSL moved into the IPL window this year to improve the quality and availability of foreign players they could sign. In that sense, the calculated risk they took appears to have paid off as the squad for the 10th edition of the PSL includes the widest range of high-profile foreign players they have managed in the post-Covid era.
David Warner, Daryl Mitchell, Jason Holder, Rassie van der Dussen and Kane Williamson were among the biggest names the PSL entered in this year’s draft, held at the sprawling Hazuri Bagh in Lahore Fort. While the ceremony itself was a long, choppy affair, lasting a whopping seven hours from start to finish, the clunky packaging shouldn’t detract from what could, after all, be a very decent product.
For the first time, partial player availability, which was often an obstacle in previous editions, was not a concern. The only other
cricket during the time the PSL will be played (between early April and late May) is IPL 2025. The IPL auction has concluded and the remaining players are definitely available, meaning all draft players have communicated their full names. willingness to participate fully in the PSL.
The decision did not come without compromises; Rashid Khan, for example, signed a three-year deal with Lahore Qalandars in 2023, but will be in the IPL. But players from Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, who were often unavailable because the PSL’s traditional February-March window clashed with their home international season, were signed en masse.
New Zealanders, in particular, were popular; More than half of the platinum picks in the draft were Kiwis: Finn Allen, Mitchell, Adam Milne, Michael Bracewell and Mark Chapman were selected at the highest level, all of them first-time PSL participants. They were completed in the supplemental selection with Williamson and Kyle Jamieson, also rookies.
Over the years, the PSL has enjoyed power hits overseas, with each franchise comfortable with the fact that there is enough domestic fast bowling to go around without them spreading themselves too thin. This time that changed: Milne, Sean Abbott, Jamieson, Nahid Rana, Holder, Corbin Bosch, Alzarri Joseph and Josh Little were among the quick foreigners signed.
That may be partly explained by the availability of players who would otherwise not be options for the PSL, but perhaps also hints at the dwindling confidence in local fast bowling talent among franchises.
There were departures and farewells of players who have become synonymous with a certain franchise. Faheem Ashraf left Islamabad United having so far been a player for only one franchise, winning three titles. If there was a general indication that their star was waning, Quetta Gladiators clearly thought otherwise; they used their wild card on him to choose him in the Platinum category, instead of the Silver they had assigned him.
There was also movement among the Gladiators. Sarfaraz Ahmed, their captain for the first eight seasons and player for the last nine, was not part of the draft; Gladiators owner Nadeem Omar said he would be involved with the franchise in a “new role.”
Meanwhile, Mohammad Hasnain also leaves the Gladiators to join Multan Sultans. Poignantly, Ihsanullah, the Sultans’ fastest bowler until 2023, was left unpicked after an independent review found the PCB’s botched handling of an elbow injury had caused him significant damage. Sultans owner Ali Tareen said last week that the medical consensus was that he would never reach those speeds again.
Meanwhile, there was a division of a family. Last year, Naseem Shah and his two younger brothers, Hunain and Ubaid, played for United; Hunain hit the winning runs. This time, the Sultans went for the younger players, with Ubaid leaving the defending champions to join the 2021 winners.
Last year, the PCB told ESPNcricinfo that it would coexist with the IPL instead of competing with it. The PSL draft may have wanted organization and production quality this time around, but it offered a small glimpse of what that could look like once April rolls around.
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