The players draft for the eighth edition (2023) of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) was held in Karachi on December 15 (Thursday) with more than 500 cricketers taking part in it. The event was attended by several former cricketers and present Pakistan cricketers, one of them being star wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan, who led Multan Sultans to the title in 2021. Just before the draft began, Rizwan made an explosive remark on Indian Premier League (IPL) while lauding PSL.
"PSL has stunned the entire world. There were talks earlier that PSL won't be successful, but even us, as a player, have felt that PSL is a success. The IPL is there, but if you ask any player around the world who has played in the PSL, he would say that Pakistan's league is the toughest in the world," Rizwan told reporters.
"The players who are reserves here, they are sitting on the bench at the international level as well. Pakistan are getting good backup players, and PSL should get credit for that," he added.
Squads for PSL 2023:
Quetta Gladiators
Mohammad Nawaz, Iftikhar Ahmed, Jason Roy, Mohammad Hasnain, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Naveen ul Haq, Umar Akmal, Will Smeed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Naseem Shah, Odean Smith, Ahsan Ali, Umaid Asif, Muhammad Zahid, Abdul Bangalzai, Aimal Khan, Martin Guptill, Omair Bin Yousuf
Multan Sultans
Mohammad Rizwan, Khushdil Shah, Rilee Rossouw, Shan Masood, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tim David, Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah, David Miller, Josh Little, Akeal Hosein, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Sameen Gul, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Sarwar, Adil Rashid, Arafat Minhas
Peshawar Zalmi
Babar Azam, Sherfane Rutherford, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Haris, Aamir Jamal, Salman Irshad, Tom-Kohler Cadmore, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Rovman Powell, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Danish Aziz, Arshad Iqbal, Saim Ayub, Usman Qadir, Suifyan Muqeem, Haseeb Ullah, Jimmy Neesham
Islamabad United
Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Colin Munro, Paul Stirling, Alex Hales, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abrar Ahmed, Sohaib Maqsood, Rumman Raees, Zeeshan Zamir, Hassan Nawaz, Moeen Ali, Mubasir Khan
Karachi Kings
Haider Ali, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik, Aamir Yamin, Mir Hamza, Sharjeel Khan, Qasim Akram, Matthew Wade, Imran Tahir, James Vince, James Fuller, Andrew Tye, Tayyab Tahir, Mohammad Akhlaq, Irfan Khan Niazi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Mohammad Umar
Lahore Qalandars
Rashid Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, David Wiese, Abdullah Shafique, Harry Brook, Kamran Ghulam, Zaman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Hussain Talat, Sikandar Raza, Liam Dawson, Dilbar Hussain, Mirza Tahir Baig, Ahmed Danlyal, Shawaiz Irfan, Jordan Cox, Jalat Khan
