5 Notable omissions from PSL draft

5. Haris Sohail

Another surprise omission from the PSL draft was Haris Sohail. Pakistan’s best find of the domestic circuit in recent years, Haris Sohail has scores like 70, 3, 41, 51, 44, 82, 89* and 52* in his last appearances for Pakistan and all scored at a strike rate of 90+. The lad averages almost 40 after 45 Twenty-20s and is a tidy left-arm spinner too. He was forced to go back home from the Sri Lanka tour in June due to an injury but recovered well in time for the T20 Domestic Cup in September this year. He later injured himself again before the start of the first-class season in Pakistan and hasn’t played a game since. He is recovering well and the doctors have predicted his full recovery until February 2016, the start of the PSL, but the franchise owners looked reluctant to pick a currently-injured player as he may or may not recover from his injury. A player of such caliber missing out on a PSL contract due to a fast-recovering injury is obnoxious. Surely, he should have been a supplementary pick at least.

Special Mentions

Awais Zia – hard hitting batsman from Rawalpindi, mini Boom Boom, has scored 1043 runs in 48 games at a strike of 134.

Faisal Mubashir – though new to the T20 scene, Faisal was the top scorer in the recently concluded domestic T20 Cup in Pakistan with 5 half-centuries from 9 games; averages 62+ in T20s.

Rahat Ali – hero of Australia’s world cup campaign (dropped Watson off Wahab in a crucial moment of the quarter-final), has 33 wickets in as many games.

Imran Farhat – 1538 runs in 62 games at a strike rate of 140+, has 2 centuries and 8 half-centuries in the format.

Khurram Manzoor – integral part of Karachi’s T20 team, has 1834 runs in 68 T20s with 2 hundreds and 13 half-centuries.

Sami Aslam – young, exciting prospect, though new to professional cricket; product of the Under-19s cricket.