Shahid Afridi parts ways with PSL team Karachi Kings

KARACHI: Former captain Shahid Afridi has parted ways with Pakistan Super League team Karachi Kings, after the franchise decided not to retain him for the next season of the tournament. 

The PSL released the list of players retained by the franchises for the upcoming season earlier today. 

Kings have retained Colin Munro, Babar Azam and Mohammad Amir in Platinum category, while Colin Ingram was dropped one category down to Diamond after he was named as the player ambassador by the franchise.

Karachi Kings have also released Luke Wright, Usama Mir, Khurram Manzoor, Mohammad Irfan Junior and Eoin Morgan. They will now go to the November 20th draft without a pick option in Platinum category.

Lahore Qalandars, who earlier traded Umar Akmal and Sunil Narine, have only retained Fakhar Zaman in Platinum category. They have released Chris Lynn, and parted ways with Brendon McCullum earlier.

Qalandars have also released Sohail Khan, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mustafizur Rahman, Bilawal Bhatti and Gulraiz Sadaf.

They have however retained Yasir Shah in Diamond, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Anton Devcich in Gold, and Agha Salman and Sohail Akhtar in Silver after getting Hassan Khan and Rahat Ali from Quetta Gladiators.

They will now go to the draft with two picks in Platinum, and all eyes are on AB de Villiers and Mohammad Hafeez.

Peshawar Zalmi have retained Wahab Riaz and Hassan Ali in Platinum while Kamran Akmal was named player ambassador, which automatically brought him to Diamond from Platinum. For the Platinum category, they will have to pick a foreigner.

Zalmi have released Tamim Iqbal, Haris Sohail, Chris Jordan, Hammad Azam and Andre Fletcher, while Hafeez had already parted ways with them earlier.

Two-time finalists Quetta Gladiators have retained Sarfraz Ahmed in Platinum, and have also retained Sunil Narine in the same category after their trade with Qalandars. Shane Watson was named player mentor, which brought him to Diamond from Platinum leaving the Gladiators with one Platinum pick in the players draft.

Twice-winners Islamabad United have retained Luke Ronchi, Faheem Ashraf and Shadab Khan as their Platinum players. This means they will be without a Platinum pick in the draft.

The 6th team, formerly known as Multan Sultans, have only retained Shoaib Malik in Platinum category, releasing Imran Tahir and Keiron Pollard. Mohammad Irfan has been retained as ambassador, which puts him in Diamond category.

The players draft for PSL 2019 will be held in Islamabad on 20th November.