Babar Azam to Join Peshawar Zalmi in PSL 8
Here it comes, the captain of the Pakistan cricket team and the most successful batter of the Pakistan Super League, will now represent the Peshawar Zalmi in the 8th edition of PSL. The right-hander has scored more than 2400 runs in just 68 matches. This makes him the PSL’s all-time leading scorer till now.
Babar played for Islamabad United in the 1st PSL season. He was then transferred to the Kings prior to the PSL 2017 players’ draft. Since then, he has led the Kings in 6 PSL tournaments and this year as captain after succeeding Imad Wasim. As per the reports, the tournament will take place in 4 cities in Pakistan i.e. Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, and Multan.
Pakistan Super League edition 8 will be held from February 9 2023 to March 19, 2023.
Before the trade and retention window closed on Friday evening, 2017 champions Zalmi made one of the biggest trades of the tournament. They took Babar Azam in the Platinum category and the first pick in the supplementary round in exchange for Haider Ali and Shoaib Malik. Both of them are now moved to Karachi Kings. Both of them are the winners of the 2020 edition, in the Platinum and Diamond categories, respectively.
Before the PSL Player Draft, a team can add up to 18 players. Three each in the Platinum, Diamond and Gold categories. Additionally 5 Silver players, 2 Emerging players and up to 2 Supplementary players—are through the trade and retention window.
In the meantime, leading T20 cricketers from all over the world have signed up for the PSL Player Draft 2023. The total number concluded to 493. A total of 29 Platinum and 81 Diamond players from both full member and associate members have signed up for the player draft. England accounts for the maximum number of foreign players who can sign up for the said tournament. From full members, Sri Lanka comes in at number 60, followed by Afghanistan with 43, the West Indies with 38, Bangladesh with 28, South Africa with 25, Australia with 14, Zimbabwe with 11 and Ireland with 9.
