Online Reporter
Brandon Moyo in BULAWAYO
SIKANDAR RAZA will be the only Zimbabwean international playing at the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) after he was retained by Lahore Qalandars prior to the player draft that was conducted on Monday.
A total of 21 Zimbabwean players — excluding Raza — went under the hammer during the draft for the 10th edition of the PSL — one of the biggest franchise tournaments in the world.
However, none of the 21 players were picked by any of the six PSL franchises.
From the 21, two were in the diamond category, three in gold and 16 in the silver category.
In the diamond category there was Blessing Muzarabani and Ryan Burl while Dion Myers, Nick Welch and Sean Williams were in the gold category. The 16 that were in the silver category are Antum Naqvi, Arinshto Vezha, Brad Evans, Brian Bennett, Craig Ervine, Faraz Akram, Johnathan Campbell, Richard Ngarava, Richmond Mutumbami, Solomon Mire, Tanaka Chivanga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Tawanda Maposa, Tinashe Muchawaya, Tinotenda Maposa and Trevor Gwandu.
At Lahore Qalandars — the two-time tournament winners — Raza will be playing alongside the likes of New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell who was the first draft pick, Fakhar Zaman, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abdullah Shafique, Asif Ali, Tom Curran, Sam Billings and Kusal Perera. Some of the overseas stars set to take part at the forthcoming tournament are David Warner (Australia Karachi Kings), Kane Williamson (New Zealand; Karachi Kings), Rilee Rossouw (South Africa, Quetta Gladiators), Shai Hope (West Indies, Multan Sultans), Johnson Charles (West Indies, Multan Sultans), Rassie Van Der Dussen (South Africa, Islamabad United), Jason Holder (Islamabad United), Alzarri Joseph (West Indies, Peshawar Zalmi).
Meanwhile, Burl has been enjoying a purple patch in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) where he has managed to get among the runs for his Durbar Rajshahi as one of the team’s leading run getters. In six innings, Burl has scored 179 runs with a best of unbeaten 55 runs not out and a couple of 40s scores. He also has three wickets to his name. In his team’s last outing against Dhaka Capital on Sunday, Burl scored a gallant 47 runs not out as they suffered a heavy 149 runs defeat.
Batting first, Dhaka Capital scored a mammoth 254/1 in their 20 overs courtesy of two centuries from Tanzid Hasan (108 runs off 68 deliveries) and Das (125 runs not out off 55 balls). Burl and his team were bowled out for just 105 runs in 15.2 overs with the Zimbabwean all-rounder top scoring with 47 runs not out off 32 balls and was the only batters to score more than 20 runs in their innings. Next up for Burl and his team is a clash against Sylhet Strikers on Friday.
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