Karachi Kings release big names as the teams announce player retention and swaps for PSL 3

The preparations for the third edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) are in full swing with franchises swapping players to strengthen their combinations. Karachi Kings have released some of the big names like Chris Gayle, Kumar Sangakkara who led the side in the last season and Kieron Pollard. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) released the final list of players on Thursday and revealed the retentions and swaps of all the 5 teams.

The next season of PSL will feature six teams as opposed to the five in the previous two editions. Multan Sultans is the new franchise to have entered into the tournament as the league is on its way to being more competitive in 2018. All the five franchises in the PSL were required to release 10 players, two in each category including foreigners to allow the new entrant franchise to sign on 10 players next week.

Lahore trade Rizwan for Sohail Khan

Karachi Kings has surprised everyone by not opting the services of the Windies batting maestro Gayle and the Sri Lankan legend Sangakkara. They have made yet another shocking decision and released Shoaib Malik, the regular feature in the limited overs squad for Pakistan.

Moreover, he has been playing some magnificent cricket at this stage of his career. However, in a major trade-off Kings has signed Shahid Afridi, the former Pakistani all-rounder, who will most likely lead the side. They have also included Mohammad Rizwan in another player swap at the expense of the fast bowler Sohail Khan.

Quetta Gladiators have also let go of the Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad while Lahore Qalandars have released Azhar Ali who is a regular member of the Test side. Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal has also been released by Peshawar along with English batsman David Malan and Eoin Morgan. Islamabad United is not behind in releasing big names and have opted not to have services of the players like Shane Watson, Sam Billings, Brad Haddin and Muhammad Irfan. The PSL draft will soon be organised in which these trades will be kept in mind by franchise owners.

Here are the players retained by five PSL teams