PSL franchises announce retentions; Stallionz sign Steve Smith
The six existing franchises of the PSL have announced their retentions ahead of the 11th season. In all, 19 players have been retained across five categories - Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver and Emerging. Lahore Qalandars, Quetta Gladiators, Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings have retained four players each while Islamabad United have retained three players. Multan Sultans, who failed to reach the playoffs last season, have opted to retain no players.
Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan, Abrar Ahmed and Hasan Ali are the players to be retained under the highest 'Platinum' category. Abdullah Shafique, Usman Tariq, Sufyam Moqim and Abbas Afridi have been retained in the diamond category.
The two new franchises will be permitted to pick and retain any four players from the available pool and are required to announce their retentions before February 7. Additionally, the PSL is set to move to a player auction model starting this season.
Full list of retentions
Lahore Qalandars: Shaheen Afridi (Platinum), Abdullah Shafique (Diamond), Sikandar Raza (Gold) and Mohammad Naeem (Silver)
Quetta Gladiators: Abrar Ahmed (Platinum), Usman Tariq (Diamond), Hasan Nawaz (Gold) and Shamyl Hussain (Emerging)
Islamabad United: Shadab Khan (Platinum), Salman Irshad (Gold) and Andries Gous (Silver)
Peshawar Zalmi: Babar Azam (platinum), Sufyan Moqim (Diamond), Abdul Samad (Gold) and Ali Raza (Emerging)
Karachi Kings: Hasan Ali (platinum), Abbas Afridi (Diamond), Khushdil Shah (Gold) and Saad Baig (Emerging)
Multan Sultans: No retentions
Steve Smith signs for Stallionz
Sialkot Stallionz have signed Australia batter Steve Smith ahead of their inaugural edition. Smith, who had an impressive run in this year's Big Bash League, was acquired as a 'direct signing' with each team being allowed to sign one overseas player who did not feature in the previous edition of the tournament.
Smith scored 299 runs from six innings in the Sydney Sixers' run to the final. Despite growing calls for his inclusion in Australia's T20 World Cup squad owing to his form, Smith was left out.
The 36-year-old also went unsold in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Auction earlier last year but was a notable name on the RAPP sheet. His participation in the PSL will render him unavailable to be picked as a replacement player in the IPL, although there is precedent of players withdrawing from the PSL after being signed as replacements in the IPL.
