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Preview: Pakistan Super League squads
The sixth edition of PSL is all set to resume on June 9 in UAE.
Here’s a preview of all the squads.
Quetta Gladiators
Captain: Sarfaraz Ahmed
Coach: Moin Khan
Best finish: Champions (2019)
Last season: Fifth
Faf du Plessis is a key player for Quetta.
He wasn’t in good form in the first half of PSL 6, scoring just 71 runs in three matches.
However, he regained his form for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, scoring 320 runs in seven matches.
Mohammad Hasnain is a proven performer and bagged six wickets in five matches, in the first half of PSL 6 at an economy rate of 8.33. Last season, he had 15 wickets at 8.96 from just nine matches.
32-year old Andre Russell is game-changer with over 6,300 T20 runs at a strike rate of 169.45 and over 300 wickets.
Squad:
Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Abdul Nasir, Andre Russell (partially available), Anwar Ali, Arish Ali Khan, Azam Khan, Cameron Delport, Faf du Plessis, Hassan Khan, Jack Wildermuth, Jake Weatherald, Khurram Shehzad, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Saim Ayub, Usman Khan, Usman Shinwari, Zahid Mahmood, Zahir Khan
Peshawar Zalmi
Captain: Wahab Riaz
Coach: Daren Sammy
Best finish: Champions (2017)
Last season: Fourth
Shoaib Malik is a T20 legend and can never be ruled out, even though he struggled in his first five matches in PSL 6, scoring just 101 runs with a highest score of 34.
Peshawar’s captain, Wahab Riaz is another beacon of consistency.
He has been the leading wicket-taker for four of the last five tournaments. Riaz’s tally of 84 wickets at an economy of 7.18 in 59 PSL matches is a record.
Squad:
Wahab Riaz (c), Abrar Ahmed, Amad Butt, Bismillah Khan, David Miller (partially available), Fabian Allen (partially available), Fidel Edwards (partially available), Haider Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Amir Khan, Mohammad Irfan Snr, Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Imran Randhawa, Rovman Powell, Waqar Salamkheil, Sherfane Rutherford, Shoaib Malik, Umaid Asif
Islamabad United
Captain: Shadab Khan
Coach: Johan Botha
Best finish: Winners (2016, 2018)
Last season: Sixth
Alex Hales will be absent for the second leg of PSL 6 which will be a big blow.
To bolster their batting, Islamabad have brought in Usman Khawaja who has the potential to be a match-winner, as his Big Bash performances suggest.
The dark horse could be pacy Mohammad Wasim Junior, who was labelled by Abdul Razzaq as the ‘quickest bowler in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy’.
Squad:
Shadab Khan (c), Ahmed Saifi Abdullah, Ali Khan, Akif Javed, Asif Ali, Colin Munro, Fawad Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Hussain Talat, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Mohammad Akhlaq, Musa Khan, Rohail Nazir, Usman Khawaja, Zafar Gohar, Zeeshan Zameer
Karachi Kings
Captain: Imad Wasim
Coach: Herschelle Gibbs
Best finish: Winners (2020)
Last season: Winners
Babar Azam is their talisman and one of the best batsmen in the business. He was the highest run-scorer in 2020 with 473 runs which included half-centuries in the qualifier and the final.
The Kings will also count on Sharjeel Khan who made 200 runs in five matches.
Another player to watch out for is 20-year old right arm seamer Arshad Iqbal, who is 6ft, 2 inches tall and capable of swing and bounce.
Squad:
Imad Wasim (c), Abbas Afridi, Amir Yamin, Arshad Iqbal, Babar Azam, Chadwick Walton, Danish Aziz, Martin Guptill, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Haris, Thisara Perera, Najeebullah Zadran, Noor Ahmed, Qasim Akram, Sharjeel Khan, Waqas Maqsood, Zeeshan Malik
Lahore Qalandars
Captain: Sohail Akhtar
Coach: Aaqib Javed
Best finish: Third in group, runners-up in final (2020)
Last season: Third in group, runners-up in final
Afghan Rashid Khan is indisputably the world’s best short-format spinner with his lethal mix of googles and flippers.
Along with last year’s highest wicket taker, Shaheen Afridi and bowlers like Haris Rauf and Dilbar Hussain, Lahore have the strongest bowling attack.
The hard-hitting left hander and wicket-keeper batsman, Zeeshan Ashraf is another player to watch out for.
Squad:
Sohail Akhtar (c), Ahmed Danyal, Ben Dunk, Callum Ferguson, Dilbar Hussain, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, James Faulkner, Maaz Khan, Mohammad Faizan, Mohammad Hafeez, Shakib al Hasan (replacement to be announced shortly), Salman Ali Agha, Seekuge Prasana, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sultan Ahmed (replaces Joe Burns), Tim David, Zaid Alam, Zeeshan Ashraf, Rashid Khan
Multan Sultans
Captain: Mohammad Rizwan
Coach: Andy Flower
Best finish: Group winners, lost in eliminator (2020)
Last season: Group winners, lost in eliminator
South African left-hander Rilee Rossouw is one of the most prolific batsmen in PSL history and has scored at 131.42 with an average of 32.64.
In Feb 2020, he hit the fastest-ever PSL century against Quetta Gladiators smashing 100* in 44 deliveries.
Their bowling department has oodles of T20 experience with canny operators like Imran Tahir and Sohail Tanvir.
In Mohammad Rizwan, they have among the finest wicket-keeper batsmen in the world.
Squad:
Mohammad Rizwan (c), Hammad Azam, Imran Tahir, Imran Khan Snr, Johnson Charles, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Umar, Obed McCoy, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rilee Rossouw, Shahnawaz Dhani, Shan Masood, Shimron Hetmyer (available only partially), Sohaib Maqsood, Sohaibullah, Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Usman Qadir, Muhammad Waseem