LAHORE: Twenty-one foreign players including South African captain Faf du Plessis will be in Pakistan to play the remaining four matches of the HBL Pakistan Super League Five edition which are to be held in Karachi from Nov 14-17.

The matches were originally scheduled to be played in Lahore in March this year but were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Among the foreign players, seven are coming from South Africa, six from England, four from the West Indies, two from Bangladesh and one each from Australia and New Zealand.

It will be the first appearance of Du Plessis in the PSL, though he had led a World XI to Lahore in 2017.

Plessis will play for Peshawar Zalmi in place of Keiron Pollard, who will be in New Zealand with the West Indies. “I am very excited to join Peshawar Zalmi for the playoff stage games of HBL PSL 2020,” said du Plessis. “I have fond memories of playing in Pakistan when I toured with the ICC World XI in 2017 and I am sure this experience, although different due to Covid-19, will be a memorable one as well.”

Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah said: “It’s an honour to play in the HBL PSL. Cricket is being played very differently this year and I hope to play a part in bringing smiles to the faces of our fans.”

Dashing BD opener Tamim Iqbal said: “I can’t wait to be back at the HBL PSL. Lahore Qalandars have had an amazing journey and I want to help our team win the trophy this year.”

The breakdown of foreign players appearing in the four PSL matches is as follows:

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (Zalmi), Cameron Delport (Karachi Kings), Dane Vilas, David Wiese (Lahore Qalandars), Rilee Rossouw, Imran Tahir ( Multan Sultans) and Hardus Viljoen (Peshawar Zalmi).

England: Alex Hales (Karachi Kings), James Vince (Multan Sultans), Samit Patel (Lahore Qalandars), Adam Lyth, Ravi Bopara (both Multan Sultans) and Liam Livingstone (Peshawar Zalmi).

West Indies: Chadwick Walton and Sherfane Rutherford (KK) Carlos Brathwaite and Daren Sammy (Peshawar Zalmi).

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal (Lahore Qalandars) and Mahmudullah (Multan Sultans).

Australia: Ben Dunk (Lahore Qalandars).

New Zealand; Mitchel McClenaghan.

Squads:

Karachi Kings (5 foreign players) - Aamir Yamin, Alex Hales (England), Arshad Iqbal, Awais Zia, Babar Azam, Cameron Delport (South Africa), Chadwick Walton (West Indies), Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mitchel McClenaghan (New Zealand), Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Sharjeel Khan, Sherfane Rutherford (West Indies), Umaid Asif, Umer Khan,Usama Mir and Waqas Maqsood

Lahore Qalandars (5 foreign players) - Abid Ali, Agha Salman, Ben Dunk (Australia), Dane Vilas (South Africa), David Wiese (South Africa), Dilbar Hussain, Fakhar Zaman, Farzan Raja, Haris Rauf, Jaahid Ali, Maaz Khan, Mohammad Faizan, Mohammad Hafeez, Samit Patel (England), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sohail Akhtar, Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh) and Usman Shinwari

Multan Sultans (6 foreign players) - Adam Lyth (England), Ali Shafiq, Bilawal Bhatti, Imran Tahir (South Africa), James Vince (England), Junaid Khan, Khushdil Shah, Mahmudullah (Bangladesh), Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Irfan, Ravi Bopara (England), Rilee Rossouw (South Africa), Rohail Nazir, Shaan Masood, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Usman Qadir and Zeeshan Ashraf

Peshawar Zalmi (5 foreign players) - Aamir Ali, Adil Amin, Carlos Brathwaite (West Indies), Daren Sammy (West Indies), Faf du Plessis (South Africa), Haider Ali Khan, Hardus Viljoen (South Africa), Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal, Khurram Shehzad, Liam Livingstone (England), Mohammad Mohsin, Rahat Ali, Shoaib Malik, Umar Amin, Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2020