[1]
The 2018 Pakistan Super League player draft was the player draft for third season of the Pakistan Super League, held on 12 November 2017 in Lahore.[2][3] Each franchise was allowed to pick 16 players from total 501 players; including Pakistani and foreign cricketers who took part in the draft. They divided into five different categories; Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver and Emerging and Supplementary.[4] This was Multan Sultans' inaugural season, they were allowed to pick 9 players prior to the draft.
Retained players
The list for the names of 9 retained players in each five teams was announced on 5 October 2017. The new team Multan Sultans picked their 9 pre-draft players from the players released by other franchises, and their names were announced on 10 October.[5][6][7]
On 3 October 2017, Shahid Afridi's transfer from Zalmi to Kings was confirmed, occupying one Gold and two Silver picks, which was named as the biggest trade of the season.[8] It was also announced on 5 October that the gold pick Mohammad Rizwan had been picked by Kings in trade for the gold pick Sohail Khan to Qalandars.[9] On 6 October, it was reported that United bought Iftikhar Ahmed from Zalmi in exchange of supplementary pick in second round of draft.[10]
Players released
Further players; who played in 2017 PSL, were released by their franchises, who are:[11][10]
A total of 501 players; 193 Pakistani and 308 overseas were a part of the draft. Earlier, each franchise had a purse of US$1.2 million, but then PCB decided to increase the salary cap of each franchise by US$25,000 on 13 November. They were allowed to stack up their squad with a maximum of 21 players by picking them from the categories in following order with a varying range and limit in price:[17]
one player each from:
Platinum; US$140,000–230,000
Diamond; minimum price of US$70,000–85,000
Gold; US$50,000–60,000
two players each from:
Silver; US$22,000–33,000
Emerging; US$10,000–12,000
up to five players from Supplementary Rounds; they could be called in as replacements for those players who don't agree to play in Pakistan[18][19]
Following players were picked by the franchises in the draft:[20]