The anticipation for the HBL Pakistan Super League 2024 is building up as time draws closer to the tournament. The squads for this year’s mega event were finalized with the conclusion of the Replacement Draft on Monday afternoon. The think tanks of all six teams were in action as they looked to replace the fully and partially unavailable players from their initial squads. Two additional supplementary picks were also announced by each side to bolster their resources. The Supplementary Picks and Replacement Draft Picks for PSL 9 are as follows.
Supplementary and Replacement Draft Picks for PSL 9
Peshawar Zalmi
Ahead of today’s draft, Peshawar Zalmi was the side that had the greatest number of players either partially or fully unavailable for the tournament. They have decided to replace Lungi Ngidi with Afghanistan’s Waqar Salamkheil. The left-arm wrist spinner has picked up 52 wickets in 37 T20 matches.
Arshad Iqbal will once again wear the yellow jersey after missing out on the main draft. The 23-year-old will provide cover for Khurram Shehzad, who continues to recover from a stress fracture suffered in the test series against Australia.
Noor Ahmed was also going to be unable to feature for the Peshawar franchise due to international commitments, hence he has been replaced by Gus Atkinson. The right-arm pacer will surely bolster their bowling lineup, but it will be interesting to see how many games he manages to play for his new franchise as he is currently part of England’s Test squad playing in India.
The pick of the Replacement Draft has to be the acquisition of West Indies fast bowling sensation, Shamar Joseph. The 24-year-old announced himself to the cricketing world when he single-handedly helped his country in defeating the mighty Aussies in their backyard. The fiery pacer has been roped in as a partial replacement for Afghanistan’s Naveen ul Haq.
In the Supplementary round, Peshawar Zalmi opted to secure the services of Luke Wood and Sufyan Muqeem. Wood has played 123 T20s and has 130 wickets to his name. The Englishman has been part of the Quetta Gladiators team in the past. Whereas Sufyan Muqeem was part of the Zalmi contingent last season and picked up four wickets in five matches for his side. The young spinner would be hoping to do better in the 9th edition of HBL PSL.
Karachi Kings
Karachi Kings were dealt a huge blow when it was confirmed that two of their marquee foreign players were only going to be partially available for this year’s PSL. This included the West Indies legend Kieron Pollard and New Zealand’s attacking batter, Tim Siefert.
The Karachi management has decided to pick the experienced leg spinner, Zahid Mehmood as a partial replacement for Pollard. Whereas, they have reserved their pick for the replacement of Tim Siefert. The Kiwi will be seen in action for his country against their neighbor Australia.
In the Supplementary category, the Kings have picked up South African batter Leus du Plooy. The 29-year-old has a wealth of experience having featured in over 100+ T20 games. He is currently enjoying a brilliant spell in the ongoing SA20 league. Batting in the middle order he has managed to score 183 runs at a blistering strike rate of 160.52 so far. Karachi Kings also confirmed the signing of local fast-bowling talent, Mohammad Rohid.
Lahore Qalandars
Lahore Qalandars will not be able to avail the full services of Dan Lawrence and Rashid Khan for this year’s PSL. The explosive English batter, Lawrence, is part of England’s Test squad facing India; hence he is partially available for the 9th edition of HBL PSL. Whereas Afghanistan’s spin wizard, Rashid Khan, is set to miss out on the whole of the tournament due to a back injury.
The Qalandars had the chance to name their replacement draft picks for PSL 9, but they have opted to reserve both their picks. In the supplementary category, they have roped in Sri Lanka’s power hitter Bhanuka Rajapaksa. The 32-year-old was part of Peshawar Zalmi’s contingent last season. The defending champions concluded their supplementary picks by naming Tayyab Abbas, a product of their renowned player development program.
See Also: PSL 2024 Draft: Squads, Teams Strengths, Weaknesses and Probable XI’s
Quetta Gladiators
The Quetta Gladiators’ think tank had a mammoth task of replacing their star spinner, Wanindu Hasaranga, who was not going to be available for the full season of PSL. The Quetta management has decided to keep things simple by naming local batter, Bismillah Khan, as Hasaranga’s replacement. The wicketkeeper batter has worn the purple jersey in the past as well.
In the supplementary round the Quetta Gladiators named Laurie Evans as their pick number one, whereas they decided to reserve the pick number two. Evans is an experienced campaigner and is known for his power-hitting capabilities. The 36-year-old has 6,351 runs with 3 hundreds to his name in the T20s.
Islamabad United
Tom Curran was unfortunately ruled out of HBL PSL 9 due to a knee injury. Islamabad United had the option of replacing the right-arm pacer in the Replacement Draft, but they opted to reserve their pick. In the supplementary category, the Islamabad franchise made two big-name signings.
The United management secured the services of West Indies pacer Obed McCoy. The 27-year-old has picked up 121 scalps in 93 T20 outings in his career. Furthermore, the two-time champions have handed another chance of redemption to Haider Ali. The Pakistani batter would be eager to make a mark with his new franchise.
Multan Sultans
The Multan Sultan management must have had a fairly relaxing time at the Replacement Draft picks for PSL 9 as all of their players in the current squad are going to be available for the full season. In the supplementary category, the Multan franchise decided to bolster its batting lineup by signing two explosive batters.
Last year’s runners-up picked up named West Indies opening batter Jhonson Charles as their first pick in the supplementary round. The 35-year-old is renowned for his power-hitting and has over 6000 T20 runs to his name. Muhammad Shahzad was named as Multan’s last pick in the supplementary round. The 19-year-old has represented Pakistan at under 19 level during the 2020 and 2022 Under 19 World Cup.
