The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has revealed a list of 49 local players enlisted in the Gold category for the upcoming Pakistan Super League (PSL) season nine's draft.
Among the highlighted inclusions are names such as Aamer Yamin, Ahmed Shehzad, Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, and Arshad Iqbal.
The Gold category also includes Bilal Asif, Bilawal Bhatti, Haider Ali, Haris Sohail, and Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahnawaz Dahani, and Umar Akmal.
Remember, the draft of PSL season nine will take place at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore on Wednesday, December 13, 2023. PSL 9 is tentatively scheduled from 8 February to 24 March 2024.
Earlier, local media reported that PCB has decided to host PSL 9 across four cities.
Karachi, Lahore, Multan, and Rawalpindi have been finalised to host the much-awaited league.
According to the proposed schedule by the national cricketing body, the first match would take place on February 19 in Lahore. However, an objection has been raised by the franchises that the cold weather and the possible fog situation may make it difficult for the teams to stay, train, and play there.
Peshawar Zalmi continues to press the cricketing body to add Peshawar to its venue list while consistently assuring PCB that the remaining work on the stadium will be finished within two months.
Despite their reassurances, the PCB has not yet made any decision on the inclusion of the city in their list of host cities.
Another matter was being raised by the franchises, and that was the proposed final scheduled to take place in Karachi on March 19. The teams fear that the crowd may not show up at their full capacity which could affect the ticket revenue.
Multan Sultans, the winners of the 2021 PSL, suggested a possible solution to this concern by offering to host the final in the Multan Cricket Stadium, they have also shown their confidence that they would be able to attract enough audience to fill the ground.
It is worth mentioning that the PCB intends to announce the official schedule on the day of the PSL 9 draft.
The cricket body released the list of all the retained players by all six franchises on Thursday where many big and important names were not kept by their franchises.
Islamabad had the first pick in Platinum which they traded with Quetta in exchange for in-demand pacer Naseem Shah along with two players, Abrar Ahmed and Mohammad Wasim Junior.
Quetta then continued the trade process and brought back Rilee Russouw in a swap deal with the Multan where Iftikhar Ahmed, along with the first pick in Platinum, went to the 2021 PSL winners.
Multan now has the first pick in the Platinum round as well as Silver.