PSL 2022: Schedule, retentions, categories and all you need to know about PSL 7 player draft

The seventh season of the Pakistan Super League will kick off on January 27. Ahead of the tournament, the much-anticipated player draft will take place at the High-Performance Center in Lahore on Sunday, December 12. Lahore Qalandars will be the first team that will have the pick in the platinum, diamond, gold, and emerging categories. Qalandars will be followed by Multan Sultans, Karachi Kings, Islamabad United, Peshawar Zalmi, and Quetta Gladiators.

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Barring a few, players who are part of the draft are not yet confirmed. The six franchises are yet to confirm their list of retained players as well. Once the list is out, a clear picture will emerge and the draft list will be completed.

The six franchises have to reveal the list of retained players by December 10. A maximum of eight players can be retained by one franchise. The remaining players who are not retained, and wish to play the PSL 7 will then enter the player draft.

#HBLPSLDraft pick order 👇

Read more: https://t.co/xwbrQYphBZ pic.twitter.com/Eaj7WvdUGI

— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) December 3, 2021

The players have been divided into several categories based on their recent showings. Multan Sultans' Mohammad Rizwan has moved to the Platinum category after a scintillating performance in the last year.

Category Renewals for HBL PSL 7 are now out! 📣#HBLPSLDraft

Read more:https://t.co/xwbrQYphBZ pic.twitter.com/KzOAyamxGb

— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) December 3, 2021

He was outstanding with the bat and gloves in the previous edition. Rizwan’s terrific showing paved way for Multan Sultans maiden title. Asif Ali of Islamabad United and Haris Rauf of Qalandars have also got into the platinum category.

There is still no clear picture of Overseas players' availability due to the schedule. The PSL starts one day after the conclusion of the Big Bash League (BBL). Also, there is a chance of the inaugural edition of the UAE T20 league clashing with PSL. Meanwhile, fans can watch live footage of the PSL draft via PSL YouTube channel.

Here's are some of the players who have confirmed their participation in the PSL draft

Platinum Category

Tabraiz Shamsi*, David Miller, Rilee Rossouw, Marchant de Lange (South Africa)

Tymal Mills*, Jason Roy*, James Vince, Liam Livingstone, David Willey (England)

Chris Gayle* (West Indies)

Colin Munro (New Zealand)

Isuru Udana, Thisara Perera (Sri Lanka)

Rashid Khan* (Afghanistan)

* Indicates that a player is available for limited number of matches only

Diamond Category

James Faulkner, Ben Cutting, Ben Dunk (Australia)

Lewis Gregory, Alex Hales, Harry Brook, Joe Clarke, Samit Patel, Dan Lawrence (England)

Imran Tahir, Dane Vilas (South Africa)

David Wiese (Namibia)

Kusal Mendis, Dushmantha Chameera (Sri Lanka)

Fabian Allen, Sherfane Rutherford (West Indies)

Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran, Qais Ahmad (Afghanistan)

Sources also revealed that Gold Category has 106 players, meanwhile 201 cricketers are part of the Silver Category.

Local players

As far a local players are concerned, 495 cricketers have been included in Gold, Silver and Emerging Categories.   

Abdullah Shafique, Abid Ali, Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar Ali, Bilal Asif, Fawad Alam, Umar Akmal, Haris Sohail, Junaid Khan, Khurram Manzoor, Rumman Raees, Saud Shakeel, Tabish Khan and Yasir Shah are some of the players in the Gold category.