23 Dec 2015 | Cricket
The Pakistan Super League is the country's inaugural Twenty20 competition and this week saw the tournament's draft take place.
The 5 franchises; Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalanders, Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators picked their players in a system that involved two days of squad selection, with the franchises taking turns to select from a pool of 310 players.
Each team had a capped budget of $1.1 million in a draft process that saw 98 of the 310 players selected. The franchises had to build a squad of 16-20 players and as is the case with big domestic Twenty20 tournaments, the Pakistan Super League continued the trend of attracting some of the biggest names in cricket.
Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik and Shane Watson were the first acquisitions made by the franchises, with the Pakistan T20 captain Afridi unsurprisingly being the first pick of the entire draft.
Overseas players continued to dominate the opening selections with the West Indian trio Darren Sammy, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo all being chosen as second picks. This West Indian influence continued as Samuel Badree, Jason Holder and Lendl Simmons were all also signed on the first day of selection.
The draft included plenty of Pakistan players (136) and the third round picks saw Wahab Riaz, Ahmed Shehzad, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal and the 41-year-old Misbah-Ul-Haq all chosen. Leg spinner Yasir Shar and 7 ft 1 bowler Mohammad Irfan were also snapped up quickly.
Bangladeshi all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was Karachi's second pick of the draft and he will be joined at the franchise by Hampshire's James Vince and Essex's Ravi Bopara. Both players were signed on the first day of selection and they represent two of the eight Englishmen set to appear at the debuting tournament.
Kent's Sam Billings has been selected to play for Islamabaad United where the 24-year-old will be joined by the experienced Australian duo of Shane Watson and Brad Haddin. England fans will be hoping Billings can show similar form to what he achieved against Pakistan in the recent Twenty20s and with the upcoming World T20 this could be a real chance for the keeper-batsman to make a compelling case for his place in the international side.
Sussex's Luke Wright will once again find himself playing alongside current Melbourne Stars teammate Kevin Pietersen when they both feature for the Quetta Gladiators. Interestingly the competition will also see Pietersen come up against ex England boss Andy Flower who is mentoring at the Peshawar franchise.
Wright's Sussex teammate and current England player Chris Jordan was Peshawar Zalmi's fifth pick of the draft, with the franchise obviously impressed with the England player's recent Super Over performance against Pakistan. Jordan will be joined by ex Glamorgan batsman Jim Allenby as well as Middlesex opener Dawid Malan in a team that also includes former Pakistan T20 captain Mohammad Hafeez.
The draft system used by the Pakistan Super League has seemingly provided a really even spread of talent across the teams. The squads look very balanced on paper and it will be interesting to see how they go in the upcoming competition, especially as it provides the last chance for many players to impress before the World T20 in India.
The tournament gets under way on February 4th and finishes less than three weeks later on February 23rd. Whilst the matches will take place in Dubai and Sharjah, the introduction of this tournament can only be seen as good thing for Pakistan cricket and the global audience of Twenty20 fans.