Peshawar Zalmi clears the air with Kamran Akmal confirming that he is "very much a part of the team"

Peshawar Zalmi has confirmed that Kamran Akmal will be "very much a part" of the franchise and will play for the team for the next season. Akmal also confirmed that he was on board with Zalmi and that the misunderstanding between the two parties had been cleared up.

On Sunday, Akmal said he felt "humiliated" after being placed in the lowest category on the PSL draft and refused to attend the next edition of the PSL. Akmal had relegated from Diamond to Gold on Draft Day, and Zalmi made him her last choice out of Silver against his wishes. Back-to-back downgrades didn't go well with Akmal, the highest-capped player in PSL history and the tournament's second-highest running hit.

"For me, self-respect comes first and it's not about money, "I could have left Zalmi for so much more money a long time ago, but they are like family and I never imagined leaving them. It's the process that was basically surprising and like the board the older cricketers Disregarded. It's hurtful because it's a local tournament. " and I'm not done yet. It's the passion for the game that kept me going and the performance that counts. I don't look at the international level because I know I don't deserve it, but at PSL I think I deserve this level a lot. Zalmi is my pride and I will play for her. "

According to the PSL draft rules, a player who is not accepted into their nominated category must give their consent to be accepted into the lower category, but players often set a limit on being demoted. In Akmal's case, he allegedly never wanted to be ranked below gold. However, Zalmi still selected him in the silver category, even though they increased his monetary value by being appointed a mentor.

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"We have a lot of respect for Kamran," Mohammad Akram, Zalmi's head coach,  "Picking him in the silver category was part of our strategy as the draft dictates who you pick at which stage. We had the match card with us and kept it for him in case any team might try to pick him." So if you have a tool to keep your player safe, make sure they don't get hurt financially.

"We respect his feelings, but when I explained it to him, he got it. We raised him to the silver category, but at the same time we made him a mentor. He is a very experienced cricketer and as a coach I get motivation from him." Passion and hunger and hard work that he still does like a U19 boy. So everything is fine and he's a big part of our team. "

Akmal's PSL record is significant as he has 1,820 runs out of 69 games, the run number is just behind Babar Azam's 2,070 out of 58 games. Akmal has scored his runs with a hit rate of 136.84 and is the only one to have scored three hundred goals; Sharjeel Khan has two. Akmal, a Zalmi player since the competition began in 2016, is also the leading wicket keeper in the PSL with 60 layoffs.

Prior to the draft, the PCB opened a trade and loyalty window allowing each franchise to keep up to eight players, and Zalmi decided not to keep Akmal but instead select him from the draft. Wahab Riaz, the team captain, was taken over while Shoaib Malik was taken over from the Diamond category. The team has also brought on Mohammad Harris as an additional wicketkeeper.