The player draft for the 2023 Pakistan Super League was held on 15 December 2022.^[1][2][3] Before the draft teams were allowed to retain a maximum of eight players and make transfers.^[4][5]

Background

Ramiz Raja had hinted that the draft would be replaced by an auction, but the format was retained.^[6] The PCB announced that Lahore Qalandars will have the first pick.^[7]

Each team had the right to exercise one wildcard pick. Each team had a right-to-match card which allowed franchises to buy back a maximum of one player they had released by paying a set fee in each category:^[8]

• Platinum ($130,000-$170,000)
• Diamond ($60,000-$80,000)
• Gold ($40,000-$50,000)
• Silver ($25,000)
• Emerging ($7,500)

Transfers

Babar Azam and a supplementary round pick were traded from Karachi Kings to Peshawar Zalmi in return for Shoaib Malik and Haider Ali.^[9]

Retained players

On 11 November 2022, the retained player's list was announced.^[9] The franchises were allowed to retain a maximum of eight players from the previous season. All the franchises fully utilized their quota of player retentions apart from Peshawar Zalmi.^[10]

Draft picks

More than 493 foreign players were registered for the draft.^[9][10] For the emerging category, players should be under 23 years of age as of 1 January 2023 and could have either played less than 10 PSL matches in previous seasons or not have been selected in the national squad.^[11]

Replacements

A replacement player draft took place through a conference call on 24 January 2023, in which franchises were also allowed to select two supplementary players.^[12][13][14] Peshawar had reserved their pick in the first supplementary round and named Khurram Shahzad as their pick.^[15] Lahore and Peshawar reserved their picks in the second supplementary round. Islamabad, Multan, Peshawar and Quetta reserved picks in the replacement draft.^[16] Further replacements were announced on 7 February 2023.^[17]

Notes

References