Shahid Afridi was traded to Quetta Gladiators for PSL 2022. Azam Khan joins Islamabad United
Shahid Afridi and James Vince were traded from Multan Sultans to Quetta Gladiators in exchange for a diamond and silver selection in the upcoming PSL draft. In another deal, Gladiators traded wicketkeeper batter Azam Khan for Islamabad United and instead received Iftikhar Ahmed's services.
After moving to his fourth PSL franchise, Afridi said: "I'm looking forward to joining Quetta Gladiators, a team that has had a roller coaster ride in recent events despite winning the 2019 title. At my last PSL event, it will be my dream and would like to conclude with another PSL trophy after the success with Peshawar Zalmi in 2017. PSL is an event that encourages and inspires a player to give their best performances that can help us achieve our event goals. "
For the upcoming edition, PSL management has also reorganized the categories for some players before the draft, in particular Mohammad Rizwan - who led to the title as captain of the Sultans last year - from silver, the third most valuable category, to platinum, most, increased is valuable. United batter Asif Ali and bowler Haris Rauf from Lahore Qalandars also take their places in the platinum category. This year the categories were set by the PCB. In previous editions, the six franchises divided players into categories.
Leaving Iftikhar was a difficult decision for United as they were allowed to have up to two local players each in the platinum and diamond categories. Now that they have Shadab Khan and Asif platinum, they had to skip Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf and Iftikhar. Instead, they added Azam to the gold category.
"It was a tough decision to move from Islamabad United, but looking ahead to my future in T20 cricket, which is linked to the Pakistani team, I thought it would be the best move," said Iftikhar.
"I am grateful to the management of Islamabad United for their support and understanding as they continue to stand behind me in all of my decisions. I am very excited to be coming back to Shahid Afridi at the Quetta Gladiators after 2017, when we were last together in HBL PSL The Quetta Gladiators are a number of my contemporaries with whom I played a lot of cricket. "
The seventh PSL season begins on January 27th next year, with a pre-tournament draft on December 12th. The league, which starts about a month earlier than usual to make way for Australia's upcoming tour of Pakistan in March-April, will end on February 27th.
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Each franchise may keep up to eight players from their previous roster and select another eight in the draft. Players who were included in PSL 6 to replace the stage in Abu Dhabi were not included in the original roster. Each team may also select two additional players in the supplementary round.
Only two venues will host the PSL: The Karachi National Stadium will host the first 15 games, while all other games - including the final - will be played in the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
The PSL trade deadline ended Thursday with only United, Gladiators and Sultans using the option to trade. The teams now have to decide on their retention - a maximum of eight - by Friday 4:00 p.m. Pakistani time.