Picture Credit: Twitter
The seventh season of the Pakistan Super League is all set to commence in January 2022. While it was the Mohammad Rizwan-led Multan Sultans who won the competition in its previous year, they will begin their title defence in the tournament opener against Karachi Kings. It has also been confirmed that while the first 15 games of the competition will be held in Karachi, the remainder of the tournament will be played in Lahore.
Overall, 34 matches are set to be played in this season and the top four teams in the league stage will secure qualification for the playoffs, much like the Indian Premier League. The deadline for the player trades for the forthcoming season of PSL was closed on Thursday with the player retention deadline also ending on December 10, Friday.
Each of the teams in the PSL was allowed a maximum of eight retentions which were divided into four categories- Diamond, Platinum, Gold and Silver. Multan Sultans and Quetta Gladiators turned out to be the only sides not to utilise their full quota of retentions. The rules also suggest that each franchise can have a maximum of 18 players in the squad.
List of all the player retentions for PSL 2022 season
1. Islamabad United:
Platinum-
Asif Ali
Hasan Ali
Diamond-
Faheem Ashraf
Shadab Khan (Brand Ambassador)
Gold-
Alex Hales (Mentor)
Azam Khan
Mohammad Wasim Jnr
Silver-
Paul Stirling
2. Karachi Kings-
Platinum-
Babar Azam
Imad Wasim
Diamond-
Mohammad Amir
Mohammad Nabi
Gold-
Joe Clarke (Brand Ambassador)
Aamir Yamin
Sharjeel Khan
Silver-
Mohammad Ilyas
3. Lahore Qalandars:
Platinum-
Rashid Khan
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Diamond-
Haris Rauf (Brand Ambassador)
David Wiese
Mohammad Hafeez
Silver-
Ahmed Daniyal
Sohail Akhtar
Zeeshan Ashraf
4. Peshawar Zalmi:
Platinum-
Liam Livingstone
Wahab Riaz
Diamond-
Haider Ali
Sherfane Rutherford
Shoaib Malik
Gold-
Hussain Talat
Saqib Mahmood (Brand Ambassador)
Silver-
Tom Kohler-Cadmore
5. Multan Sultans:
Platinum-
Mohammad Rizwan
Rilee Rossouw
Diamond-
Imran Tahir (Mentor)
Sohaib Maqsood
Gold-
Khushdil Shah (Brand Ambassador)
Shahnawaz Dahani
Shan Masood
6. Quetta Gladiators:
Platinum-
James Vince
Sarfaraz Ahmed
Diamond-
Iftikhar Ahmed
Mohammad Nawaz
Gold-
Shahid Afridi (Mentor)
Mohammad Hasnain (Brand Ambassador)
Naseem Shah