About time: Shehzad, Umar included in PSL’s elite

Duo promoted from Diamond to Platinum just two days before PSL draft

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) Governing Council promoted batsmen Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal from the Diamond category to the Platinum category on Saturday ahead of the PSL draft, scheduled to take place on December 21-22 in Lahore.

The absence of Pakistan’s star players, who play in various T20 leagues across the world and command a strong global brand value, led to the PSL officials getting a lot of beef from their peers, who were surprised at the omission of the duo, especially since pacer Sohail Tanvir was included in the Platinum category.

Additionally, Shehzad is the only Pakistani batsman to score centuries in all three formats of the game while Umar enjoyed a productive outing in the latest edition of the Caribbean Premier League.



The addition of the duo to the Platinum category takes the number of players in the group to 29.

Peshawar Zalmi owner Javed Afridi admitted that he was also surprised at the omission of the duo from the Platinum category and said that it was unjust to re-categorise the players with just two days remaining for the draft to commence.

“Both Shehzad and Umar should have been in the Platinum category from day one,” Afridi told The Express Tribune. “Including them with hardly any time left in the PSL players’ draft is unfair on the franchises because they certainly would have to alter their plans. The officials should think several times before making these decisions because changes at the last moment reflect badly on the PSL management.”



Quetta Gladiators owner Nadeem Omar also seconded Afridi’s view and expressed his dissatisfaction with the change, stating that his team had already made plans to include the duo in their line-up.

“We wanted Shehzad and Umar to be in the Quetta Gladiators’ line-up and a strategy had already been devised,” he said. “But now we have to alter our plans. These mistakes can happen and one can give the benefit of the doubt to the organisers; however, the move should have come a bit earlier.”

Meanwhile, Islamabad United representative Babar Hameed insisted that his team remains unaffected by the last-minute changes.



“For us this wouldn’t be a big problem as there are so many permutations and combinations involved that teams would still have to change their plans during the draft. There is some time left and we would try to prepare accordingly for the challenge,” he stated.

Meanwhile, all-rounder Abdul Razzaq was also included in the players’ draft and is likely to be placed in the Gold or Silver category. Earlier, The Express Tribune had reported that he would be drafted in the Silver category but there are chances that he could be put in Gold.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2015.

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