All you need to know about the Pakistan Super League Teams

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Pakistan composed of 5 member clubs. Headquartered in Lahore, the PSL is widely considered to become the premier professional cricket league in Pakistan. After years of battling security concerns and inner hassles, the authorities have lined up a set of spectacular contests. The matches will be held from February 4-24, 2016 just before the World T20.

The total salary cap for a squad of 16 was $985,000 and the total cap for a squad of 20 was $1.1 million. The 310 players were divided in 5 categories according to their value in International Cricket. Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver and Emerging players were classified: $140,000, $70,000, $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 respectively. If the player is not available throughout the league, his salary will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

All the franchises finalized their teams on the second and final Day of the PSL draft event on Tuesday. 3 teams got all 20 players while Karachi and Quetta picked 19 players as they ran out of cash.

The team picks from two rounds on 2 different days:

Peshawar Zalmi

Day 1 Picks:
Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Darren Sammy (Platinum)
Mohammad Hafeez, Chris Jordan, Kamran Akmal (Diamond)
James Allenby, Junaid Khan, Tamim Iqbal (Gold)

Day 2 Picks:
Aamir Yamin, Imran Khan Jr, Shahid Yusuf, Abdul Rehman, Dawid Malan (Silver)
Musaddiq Ahmed, Hassan Ali (Emerging)
Muhammed Asghar, Brad Hodge, Israrullah, Taj Wali (Supplementary)

Karachi Kings

Day 1 Picks:
Shoaib Malik, Shakib Al Hasan, Sohail Tanvir (Platinum)
Imad Wasim, Ravi Bopara, Lendl Simmons (Diamond)
Muhammed Amir, Bilawal Bhatti, James Vince (Gold)

Day 2 Picks:
Iftikhar Ahmed, Nauman Anwar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Usama Mir, Sohail Khan
Mir Hamza, Saifullah Bangash (Emerging)
Shahzaib Hassan, Fawad Alam, Tillakaratne Dilshan (Supplementary)

Islamabad United

Day 1 Picks:
Shane Watson, Andre Russell, Misbah ul Haq (Platinum)
Brad Haddin, Mohammad Irfan, Samuel Badree (Diamond)
Mohammad Sami, Sharjeel Khan, Khalid Latif (Gold)

Day 2 Picks:
Babar Azam, Umar Amin, Imran Khalid, Kamran Ghulam, Sam Billings (Silver)
Rumman Raees, Amad Butt (Emerging)
Ashar Zaidi, Saeed Ajmal, Hussain Talat, Umar Siddique (Supplementary)

Quetta Gladiators

Day 1 Picks:
Kevin Pietersen, Sarfraz Ahmed, Ahmad Shehzad (Platinum)
Luke Wright, Jason Holder, Anwar Ali (Diamond)
Umar Gul, Zulfiqar Babar, Elton Chigumbura (Gold)

Day 2 Picks:
Bilal Asif, Saad Nasim, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Nabi (Silver)
Akbar ur Rehman, Bismillah Khan (Emerging)
Kumar Sangakkara, Aizaz Cheema, Rameez Raja Jr. (Supplementary)

Lahore Qalandars

Day 1 Picks:
Chris Gayle, Umar Akmal, Dwayne Bravo (Platinum)
Sohaib Maqsood, Mohammad Rizwan, Yasir Shah (Diamond)
Kevon Cooper, Cameron Delport, Mustafizur Rehman (Gold)

Day 2 Picks:
Zafar Gohar, Hammad Azam, Zia ul Haq, Zohaib Khan, Azhar Ali (Silver)
Naveed Yasin, Adnan Rasool (Emerging)
Abdul Razzaq, Mukhtar Ahmed, Ehsan Adil, Imran Butt (Supplementary)

Coaches of all 5 PSL Teams

Every franchise recruited its own coaching staff with the help of PCB within the allocated budget limit. Lahore Qalandars hired South African Paddy Upton as their head coach while Peshawar Zalmi roped in former Pakistan coach Mohammad Akram. Dean Jones was signed up by Islamabad United, while Moin Khan and Mickey Arthur were brought in to coach Quetta Gladiators and Karachi Kings respectively.

Team Logo

Peshawar Zalmi was the first team to reveal their logo. Thereafter, rest of the teams followed the tradition and unveiled their logos on different occasion. Karachi Kings was the last one to disclose their logo on the draft day on 21st December at National Cricket Academy.

Brand Ambassadors of PSL

King of Swing, Wasim Akram and the voice of Pakistan Cricket, Ramiz Raja are the two brand ambassadors of PSL. The former is also the director of Islamabad United team and he actively participated in the draft event while recruiting top notch cricketers.

Wasim Akram: “I am excited about the league as it will help our players game-wise as well as financially. Pakistan needed such a league so we all have to support the league and some good work is done for hosting this in the Gulf state and I am sure it will help lift Pakistan cricket.”

Ramiz Raja: “PSL will be exciting, as it a very positive step taken to build Pakistan’s image in the international arena, plus it will provide international exposure to our players. That stage is not far when the PSL will be organized in a befitting manner in UAE in February next year and it will benefit Pakistan cricket.”

PSL Schedule for 2016

The official schedule of PSL 2016 fixtures has been announced by PCB Committee with the tournament to kick off from 4th February and final would be played on 23rd February 2016. As per fixtures, a total of 24 matches will be played between the five teams that include 3 playoffs and a final match at Dubai. The tournament will be hosted by UAE in Dubai and Sharjah. Teams will play each other twice in a league format before the top four teams qualify for the playoffs.

1st T20: Islamabad vs Quetta on 4th February 2016

2nd T20: Karachi vs Lahore on 5th February 2016

3rd T20: Islamabad vs Peshawar on 5th February 2016

4th T20: Karachi vs Quetta on 6th February 2016

5th T20: Lahore vs Peshawar on 6th February 2016

6th T20: Islamabad vs Karachi on 7th February 2016

7th T20: Quetta vs Peshawar on 7th February 2016

8th T20: Lahore vs Quetta on 8th February 2016

9th T20: Lahore vs Islamabad on 10th February 2016

10th T20: Karachi vs Peshawar on 11th February 2016

11th T20: Islamabad vs Quetta on 11th February 2016

12th T20: Karachi vs Lahore on 12th February 2016

13th T20: Islamabad vs Peshawar on 12th February 2016

14th T20: Quetta vs Karachi on 13th February 2016

15th T20: Lahore vs Peshawar on 13th February 2016

16th T20: Islamabad vs Karachi on 14th February 2016

17th T20: Quetta vs Peshawar on 14th February 2016

18th T20: Lahore vs Quetta on 16th February 2016

19th T20: Karachi vs Peshawar on 17th February 2016

20th T20: Islamabad vs Lahore on 17th February 2016

1st Play-Off: 1st Place vs 2nd Place on 19th February 2016

2nd Play-Off: 3rd Place vs 4th Place on 20th February 2016

3rd Play-Off: Playoff 2 winner vs Playoff 1 loser on 20th February 2016

FINAL: TBD vs TBD on 23rd February 2016

So are you ready for Pakistan Super League? Which team will you be rooting for?