Pakistan Super League (PSL) Season 9 drafts are set to take place on December 14 in Lahore and three players have successfully downgraded their categories after relegation requests were put in by their respective franchises.
Mir Hamza from Karachi Kings, Rumman Raees from Islamabad United and Mirza Tahir Baig have successfully downgraded to the silver category. These players were ranked in the Gold category in the list revealed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and upon relegation requests, they were relegated to silver.
It must be noted that in the list revealed by the PCB, a lot of players upgraded and downgraded their categories.
Naseem Shah and Iftikhar Ahmed, both Quetta Gladiators players, upgraded from diamond to platinum. Sarfaraz Ahmed moved to diamond from gold. Peshawar Zalmi’s wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Haris shifted to diamond from gold as well. Pace bowler Salman Irshad also moved to gold from silver.
Multan Sultans fast bowlers, Abbas Afridi and Ihsanullah, were promoted to the gold category after playing as emerging picks last year.
Islamabad United wicketkeeper-batter Azam Khan and pace all-rounder Faheem Ashraf have also upgraded from gold to the diamond category. Zeeshan Zamir moved from emerging to silver while Mubasir Khan went from emerging to gold.
Karachi Kings’ Tayyab Tahir moved from silver to gold while Qasim Akram upgraded to gold from emerging. Lahore Qalandars’ Kamran Ghulam and Zaman Khan enhanced to gold from silver and emerging, respectively.
Some players were also demoted. The changes include Mohammad Nawaz (Quetta, Platinum to Diamond), Mohammad Hasnain (Quetta, Diamond to Gold), Haider Ali (Karachi, Platinum to Gold), and Asif Ali (Islamabad, Platinum to Diamond). Players who have represented Pakistan internationally cannot be relegated below the gold category.
Some of the best foreign players namely England's Dawid Malan and James Vince, Afghanistan's Hazratullah Zazai, South Africa's Rassie van der Dussen and Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan are confirmed for the PSL 9 draft.
It must be noted that the PCB has already revealed the pick order for the Player Draft of the PSL 9.
Quetta Gladiators will make the first pick, meanwhile Karachi Kings and two-time champions Islamabad United will have the second and third picks. The fourth and fifth picks will be done by Peshawar Zalmi and last season’s runners-up Multan Sultans respectively while winners of the past two editions Lahore Qalandars will finish the first round with the sixth pick.