England's Dawid Malan leads a strong field of 59 foreign international cricketers who have registered to date in Diamond Category for HBL Pakistan Super League 2020.
The registration window for the foreign players is still open and closes on 21 November following which an updated list will be released. World's third-ranked T20I batsman was in a punishing form in the just-concluded five-match series against New Zealand, totaling 458 runs in five matches. This included a 48-ball century, an England record, in the fourth match in Napier. Malan belted nine fours and six sixes in a 51-ball 103 not out to power England to 241 for three, their highest score to date, that laid the foundation of a comfortable 76-run victory.
Malan is the second England batsman to have scored a century in the shortest format of the game. Alex Hales achieved the milestone against Sri Lanka in Chittagong in 2014 and he has registered in Platinum Category for the tournament that has already caught the imagination of cricket followers and fans across the globe in its short history. Malan has represented Peshawar Zalmi in three HBL PSLs since the inception of this glamorous and glittering tournament, helping the side from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to lift the silverware in 2017.
England's Ravi Bopara and Luke Ronchi, who won the player of the HBL PSL awards in 2016 and 2018, respectively, have also registered in the Diamond Category. Apart from Malan and Bopara, other big England attractions in the preliminary list also include Somerset's Tom Banton (who was the second leading scorer behind Babar Azam in the Vitality Blast 2019 with 549 runs), Yorkshire's Tom Kohler-Cadmore (who aggregated 435 runs in the Vitality Blast 2019), Joe Denly, Tymal Mills, Craig Overton, Phil Salt, James Vince and Luke Wright.
Daren Sammy, the darling of HBL PSL, is amongst 12 West Indies players who have registered in the Diamond Category that also includes Johnson Charles, Shai Hope, Alzarri Josphe, Keemo Paul and Marlon Samuels.
In the preliminary list, 11 South Africa cricketers have registered with Rassie van der Dussen being the most popular name after his 241 runs in the ODI series against Pakistan earlier this year. Kyle Abbott, who was the fourth leading wicket-taker with 20 scalps for Hampshire in the Vitality Blast 2019, also features in the list.
Other prominent names in the preliminary list include Bangladesh's Mahmudullah (world's fourth-ranked all-rounder) and Mustafizur Rahman (world's 32nd-ranked bowler), Roelof van der Merwe of Netherlands (world's 24th-ranked all-rounder) and Sri Lanka's Niroshan Dickwella (world's 72nd-ranked batsman) and Isuru Udana (world's 56th-ranked bowler).
Dasun Shanaka, who led Sri Lanka to 3-0 win over Pakistan last month, is also in the preliminary Diamond Category. Australia's Fawad Ahmed, Chris Green and Ben Laughlin, and Najeebullah Zadran and Qais Ahmad of Afghanistan are the other players to register in the Diamond Category.
The PCB will announce additions to the list by or before 21 November, it will continue to share to date Gold, Silver and Emerging lists this week, sources said.
There are five categories - Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver and Emerging. Each side must have a minimum squad of 16 players and can have a maximum squad of 18 players as per the following combination - three platinum, three diamond, three gold, five silver, two emerging and two supplementary (optional) Each side will have to pick three foreign players in their first nine picks
The 16-player squad must include five foreign and 11 local players; while the 18-player squad can include six foreign and 12 local players or five foreign and 13 local players. The playing-XI must include a minimum of three foreign players and can include a maximum of four foreign players.
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