The draft for the fifth edition of the Pakistan Super League was held today at National Cricket Academy in Lahore. 

The draft started with Quetta Gladiators picking up World Cup Winner Jason Roy. Lahore followed suit by drafting in Australian opener Chris Lynn, who will look to stake a claim in Australia’s T20 World Cup Squad. South African fast bowler Dale Steyn was roped in by Islamabad United as they look to bolster their bowling attack following the release of Mohammad Sami. 

Karachi Kings picked up Englishman Alex Hales along with the returning Sharjeel Khan and drafted in Chris Jordan, death bowling specialist. Peshawar Zalmi looked to have done really well in the draft having picked upcoming rising English star Tom Banton and the T20 veteran in Shoaib Malik. 

Multan Sultans have added Moeen Ali who led his team Worcestershire to a runner-up spot in T20 Blast 2019 and have also drafted the winner from season four, in Riley Rossouw.

QUETTA GLADIATORS:

- Retained Players: Sarfaraz Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Shane Watson, Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Hasnain, Ahsan Ali, Naseem Shah.

- Platinum: Jason Roy. 

- Diamond: Ben Cutting. 

- Gold: Fawad Ahmed. 

- Silver: Sohail Khan, Tymal Mills, Abdul Nasir. 

- Emerging: Arish Ali Khan, Azam Khan. 

- Supplementary: Keemo Paul, Khurram Manzoor. 
 

KARACHI KINGS: 

- Retained Players: Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir, Imad Wasim, Iftikhar Ahmed, Aamir Yamin, Usama Mir, Umer Khan. 

- Platinum: Alex Hales. 

- Diamond: Chris Jordan. 

- Gold: Sharjeel Khan, Cameron Delport. 

- Silver: Mohammad Rizwan, Umaid Asif, Dan Lawrence, Ali Khan. 

- Emerging: Arshad Iqbal. 

- Supplementary: Liam Plunkett, Awais Zia. 


MULTAN SULTANS:  

- Retained Players: Mohammad Irfan, Shahid Afridi, James Vince, Junaid Khan, Ali Shafiq, Shan Masood, Mohammad Ilyas. 

- Platinum: Moeen Ali, Rilee Rossouw. 

- Diamond: Zeeshan Ashraf, Ravi Bopara. 

- Gold: Sohail Tanvir. 

- Silver: Khushdil Shah, Usman Qadir, Fabian Allen. 

- Emerging: Rohail Nazir. 

- Supplementary: Imran Tahir, Bilawal Bhatti. 


ISLAMABAD UNITED:

- Retained Players: Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Asif Ali, Luke Ronchi, Hussain Talat, Amad Butt, Musa Khan, Rizwan Hussain. 

- Platinum: Dale Steyn, Colin Ingram. 

- Diamond: Colin Munro. 

- Gold: Rumman Raees. 

- Silver: Phil Salt, Zafar Gohar.

- Emerging: Akif Javed, Ahmed Safi Abdullah.  

- Supplementary: Saif Badar, Rassie van der Dussen.


PESHAWAR ZALMI:

- Retained Players: Hasan Ali, Kieron Pollard, Wahab Riaz, Kamran Akmal, Darren Sammy, Imam-ul-Haq, Umar Amin. 

- Diamond: Tom Banton, Shoaib Malik. 

- Gold: Liam Dawson. 

- Silver: Mohammad Mohsin, Rahat Ali, Dwaine Pretorius, Adil Amin. 

- Emerging: Amir Khan, Aamir Ali. 
 
- Supplementary: Liam Livingstone, Haider Ali Khan. 


LAHORE QALANDARS:

- Retained Players: Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shaheen Shah Afridi, David Wiese, Usman Shinwari, Haris Rauf, Sohail Akhtar, Salman Butt. 

- Platinum: Chris Lynn. 

- Gold: Samit Patel. 

- Silver: Seekkuge Prasanna, Ben Dunk, Farzan Raja, Jaahid Ali. 

- Emerging: Mohammad Faizan. 

- Supplementary: Lendl Simmons, Dilbar Hussain. 

With all the squads stacked up, the franchises are all set to kick-off the fifth edition of the glamorous tournament. The PCB made it clear that this time the whole tournament will take place in Pakistan which means that all the players drafted will visit the nation in 2020. However, PCB is yet to announce the official dates of the tournament but it is expected to start in the mid of February.