England stars Jason Roy, Moeen Ali and West Indies ace Marlon Samuels are some of the big names picked by the Pakistan Super League (PSL) outfits for the upcoming season after several foreign players dropped out of the competition due to injuries, unavailability, international commitments or bans.
Roy, who has been in red-hot form in the ongoing India tour, has been signed by Lahore Qalandars. The England opener, who has scored 220 runs in the India, replaces Dwayne Bravo, who suffered a hamstring injury while playing for Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League. However, Roy will not be available for the last two league games and further games if the Lahore-based outfit qualifies as he’ll leave on February 20. The Qalandars have also signed Australia spinner Chris Green and New Zealand all-rounder James Franklin to replace the injured Shaun Tait and Anton Devcich respectively.
Peshawar Zalmi have roped in World T20 2016 hero Marlon Samuels to replace Alex Hales. The England opener was ruled of the remainder of the limited-overs matches in India after suffering a hand fracture during the second ODI at Cuttack. They’ve also replaced Bangladesh ace Shakib-Al-Hasan with former Sri Lanka opener Tillakaratne Dilshan.
Karachi United is the only team that did not participate in the replacement draft as they have all their players available.
Here is the full list of players who have been signed by the franchisees as replacement for the tournament that will be played between February 9 and March 7.
Lahore Qalandars
- Jason Roy replaces Dwayne Bravo.
- Chris Green replaces Shaun Tait
- James Franklin replaces Anton Devcich
Peshawar Zalmi
- Marlon Samuels replaces Alex Hales
- Andre Fletcher replaces Mohammad Shahzad
- Tillakaratne Dilshan replaces Shakib-Al-Hasan
Quetta Gladiators
- Moeen Ali replaces Carlos Brathwaite
- Nathan McCullum England’s David Willey
- Thisara Perera replaces Rovman Powell
- Rilee Rossouw replaces Mohammad Nabi
Meanwhile, Moeen Ali who was signed by Quetta Gladiators as a replacement for Carlos Brathwaite during the replacement draft has pulled out of the tournament due to family commitments. He has been replaced by veteran batsman Brad Hodge.
On the other hand, England all-rounder Samit Patel will replace Peshawar Zalmi’s Tamim Iqbal after the Bangladeshi star leaves on national duty. Patel will be drafted into the Zalmi squad after Iqbal’s departure if the Peshawar outfit makes it to the qualifiers.