PSL Draft 2019: All you need to know

With the draft taking place on Tuesday 20 November, The Cricketer explains how the draft process works and who is taking part

What is it?

The Pakistan Super League draft is a player auction between the six teams playing in the 2019 PSL.

When is it?

The draft will take place on Tuesday 20 November 2018 in Islamabad.

How does it work?

The retention and trading window for the upcoming tournament opened on September 29 and teams were allowed to retain up to 10 players who featured for them in the previous year.

Each squad is allowed 16 players, with potential draft picks being organised into five different categories. These categories are (in descending order of quality) platinum, diamond, gold, silver, and emerging.

Teams are allowed three platinum players, three diamond players, three gold, five silver, and two emerging. They make their picks from these categories in an order decided by their performance in the 2018 PSL, with defending champions Islamabad United going last. The order is below:

1st: Lahore Qalandars
2nd: The Sixth Team (formerly the Multan Sultans)
3rd: Quetta Gladiators
4th: Karachi Kings
5th: Peshawar Zalmi
6th: Islamabad United

^{Islamabad United will go last in the draft as winners of the 2018 PSL}

Which players are available?

A wide range of big names are in the draft, with the biggest being AB de Villiers, Steve Smith, Brendon McCullum and Shahid Afridi.

It will be the first time that either South Africa legend de Villiers or former Australia captain Smith have played in the tournament, and they have been placed in the platinum category.

McCullum and Afridi have previously featured in the PSL for the Lahore Qalandars and Karachi Kings respectively, but were released and are now available for drafting by another team as platinum category players.

Among the other names featuring in the draft for the first time, there is also Corey Anderson - the holder of the record for the fastest-ever ODI century - who has also been placed in the platinum category.

^{AB de Villiers is available for drafting for the first time}

Why is there a 'sixth team'?

There currently exists a side called 'The Sixth Team' because the owners of the franchise rights for the Multan Sultans failed to pay the annual franchise fee of $5.2 million.

The PCB has taken responsibility for all the contracts of the staff and players of the team (which has only retained domestic players) while a public tender process takes place to find a new owner for the rights. Once this process is finished the new owner will have the option to pick a new name and new city - hence the removal of the name Multan Sultans. 

When does the PSL start?

The tournament is scheduled to begin on 14 February 2019.

Where can I find the squads?

The Cricketer has got you covered on that front, and has got together a very handy list of who is playing for who, which you can find through the link below:

PAKISTAN SUPER LEAGUE SQUADS