Pakistan aren't playing enough international cricket, but the annual Pakistan Super League is right round the corner and this year, the league has an additional team - the Multan Sultans.

With the additional team, new and exciting players combined with the Pakistan and International stars, this year's PSL promises to be bigger and better than the two previous editions.

Here is everything you need to know about the teams participating in PSL 2018.



























QUETTA GLADIATORS
Captain: Sarfraz Ahmed
Pakistani Stars: Asad Shafiq, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Umar Amin
International Stars: Kevin Pietersen, Shane Watson, Jason Roy, Rilee, Rossouw, Mahmudullah, Albie Morkel
Player to watch our for: Jofra Archer

Jofra Archer

This 22 year old Barbados born English cricketer was recently picked up for over a million dollars by Rajasthan Royals for the IPL. He has no international experience but his domestic cricket exploits have been doing the rounds of the cricketing circles.

He consistently clocks at over 90mph, he was the highest wicket taker in division two country cricket in 2017, and he had all the batsmen jumping around in the Big Bash League where he was the second highest wicket taker with 16 wickets in 12 games.

He is a valuable pick for Quetta Gladiators and has the potential to rip through batting line ups in the upcoming PSL.

KARACHI KINGS
Captain: Imad Wasim
Pakistani Stars: Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Aamir, Usman Khan, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan
International Stars: Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan, Lendl Simmons, David Wiese
Player to watch our for: Hasan Mohsin

Hasan Mohsin

This 20-year old allrounder from Karachi shone for Pakistan in the U19 World Cup in 2016, where he was among the leading run scorers and wicket takers in the tournament.

In U19 World Cup he scored 293 runs at an average of 98 and a strike rate of 96; and he picked up 11 wickets at an average of 15.

In domestic cricket since then, he has not flourished just as yet, but the PSL provides him the perfect stage to show the world his talent with both bat and ball.



























LAHORE QALANDARS

The PCB launched the Pakistan Cup recently, a domestic one-day competition that replaces the Pentangular Cup, with all the right buzz words like "improved product", "tougher competition", "attracting investors" and so on.

The Pakistan Cup will be contested by 5 regions - Punjab, Sindh, KPK, Balochistan, and Federal, which will be captained by Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, and Misbah Ul Haq respectively.


Yesterday, the PCB conducted a draft for the selection of the 15-man squads for each of the teams. We have heard of player auctions for domestic T20 leagues, and we even witnessed a first ever player draft on the lines of the NBA two months ago for the Pakistan Super League. However, for a one-day competition, this was a first.

Full marks for being innovative!

The draft began with a list of around 170 cricketers that the regions could select from. Besides selecting one U-19 player from their own region, there was no other criteria for selection.

Here's a list of the players that the regions had to select from.


And here are the selected squads.


All well and good?

Not at all.

So here are my issues with all of this.

1. The Captains

So it makes sense to make Azhar Ali the captain of one of the teams considering he is Pakistan's ODI captain. Makes sense to make Sarfraz captain as well considering he has just been announced captain of Pakistan's T20 team and is also the Vice Captain of the ODI team.

But the other three captains do not make sense at all.

Misbah and Younis have long retired from ODIs, while Shoaib Malik is in the final few years of his career.

The PCB missed a golden opportunity of providing captaincy experience to future prospective leaders. At a time when the national team has a dearth of leaders this was the perfect chance to test the captaincy skills of some players and even groom some of them.

I can understand the presence of Misbah and Younis in the squads despite their ODI retirements. They are senior players and will bring in plenty of wisdom to the dressing room that other players can draw upon and learn from. However, having them captain the teams serves no purpose. Another player with the reigns, coupled with the opportunity to bank on advice from senior pros, would have provided for a great learning opportunity.

Imad Wasim, a former U19 captain and Asad Shafiq are just two examples of players who could have benefited from such an approach.

But then again, we know that the PCB has no vision for the future!


2. The U19 Selections

WHERE IS HASAN MOHSIN?

Anyone who watched the U19 World Cup earlier this year (each one of the PCB members and selectors should have been watching it) must have seen Hasan Mohsin. The way the kid batted must have put some of the senior players to shame!

He was Pakistan's leading run scorer and leading wicket taker in the U19 World Cup.

AND HE WAS NOT SELECTED BY ANY REGION!

There has been a lot of hoopla regarding the selection of Arsal Shaikh by the Federal region and the consequent disappointment of Misbah. For those who are unaware, Arsal is the son of Shakeel Shaikh who is a member of the Governing Board of the PCB. He is also the head of PCB's cricket committee and was the head of the recent committee formed to investigate the humiliation at the World T20.

So that is the only claim to fame for Arsal Shaikh as his performance is shit. What was the basis of his selection? We all know the answer don't we.


3. The Other Selections

I have no idea what the criteria was for the pool of 170 odd cricketers or for the 15 selected by each region. It does not seem like performance was given any due weightage. Rather the captains / regions just selected players they were comfortable with.

This is why I think so:

Usman Salahuddin
He was part of the pool of 170 but not selected by any region.
Anyone know why?

In the National One-Day Cup that was played in December 2015 he was the 4th highest run scorer with 469 runs in 7 innings at an average of 93.80 and a strike rate of 84.5. He knocked 2 centuries and 2 fifties in those 7 innings.


Saeed Anwar
He was also part of the pool of 170 but not selected by any region.

In the National One-Day Cup he was the 5th highest run scorer with 404 runs in 8 innings at an average of 57.71 and a strike rate of 90.38. He scored 1 century and 3 fifties!

Abdul Rehman Muzammil
He was also part of the pool of 170 but not selected by any region.

In the National One-Day Cup he scored 337 runs in 5 innings at an average of 67.40 and a strike rate of 100.89. He scored 2 centuries in those 5 innings including a 159!

Raza Ali Dar
He was also part of the pool of 170 but not selected by any region.

In the National One-Day Cup he scored 293 runs in 6 innings at an average of 97.66 and a strike rate of 88.25. He scored 1 century and 2 fifties. On top of that, he also picked up 11 wickets in the competition at an average of 27.18 and had an economy of 6.1!

Faisal Iqbal