With the next season of HBL Pakistan Super League around the corner, teams have announced this year’s recalled players while registrations have been opened for international players wishing to participate in this year’s league.

The categories of eight players have been upgraded following the local player category renewal process for the HBL Pakistan Super League 2023 The player lists have been shared with the six franchises for the tournament to be played across four venues from 9 February to 19 March 2023.

This includes seven players who are presently in Australia for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022. They are Mohammad Wasim Junior (Islamabad United, from Gold to Diamond), Shahnawaz Dahani and Shan Masood (Multan Sultans, from Gold to Diamond), Haider Ali and Mohammad Haris (Peshawar Zalmi; Haider from Diamond to Platinum, Haris from Silver to Gold), and Mohammad Nawaz and Naseem Shah (Quetta Gladiators; Nawaz from Diamond to Platinum, Naseem from Gold to Diamond).

Aamer Jamal of Peshawar Zalmi is the other player whose category has been enhanced following his debut for Pakistan against England in the home T20Is. The all-rounder featured in the fifth and sixth T20Is in Lahore, helping Pakistan to win the fifth T20I after conceding eight runs in the final over when England needed 15 runs for victory.

Meanwhile, categories of five cricketers have been downgraded. They are: Hasan Ali (from Platinum to Diamond), Faheem Ashraf (Diamond to Gold) (both Islamabad United), Sohaib Maqsood (Multan Sultans, from Diamond to Gold), Wahab Riaz (Peshawar Zalmi, Platinum to Diamond) and Sarfaraz Ahmed (Quetta Gladiators, Platinum to Gold).

The teams will now put forward relegation requests for the players before finalising retentions. After relegation requests are floated, all teams are given an opportunity to meet the player’s base category. If the player’s base category is not matched, the player may be relegated to a category below his base category.

U23 players cannot be part of a squad as emerging players for more than two years unless they have played nine or less matches in those two years.

Local player renewals:

Islamabad United

Asif Ali, Shadab Khan (both Platinum), Hasan Ali, Wasim Jr (both Diamond), Azam Khan, Danish Aziz, Faheem Ashraf, Musa Khan, Waqas Maqsood, Zafar Gohar, Zahid Mehmood, (all Gold), Athar Mahmood, Mohammad Akhlaq, Nasir Nawaz (all Silver), Mohammad Huraira, Mubasir Khan and Zeeshan Zamir (Emerging)

Karachi Kings

Babar Azam, Imad Wasim (both Platinum), Mohammad Amir (Diamond), Amir Yamin, Mir Hamza, Sahibzada Farhan, Sharjeel Khan, Usman Shinwari (all Gold), Mohammad Ilyas, Muhammad Imran Jr, Rohail Nazir, Umaid Asif (all Silver), Faisal Akram, Mohammad Taha, Qasim Akram and Talha Ahsan (all Emerging)

Lahore Qalandars 

Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi (all Platinum), Mohammad Hafeez (Diamond), Abdullah Shafique (Gold), Ahmad Daniyal Latif, Akif Javed, Imran Randhawa, Kamran Ghulam, Maaz Khan, Sohail Akhtar, Zeeshan Ashraf (all Silver), Syed Faridoun Mahmood and Zaman Khan (both Emerging)

Multan Sultans 

Mohammad Rizwan (Platinum), Khushdil Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Shan Masood (all Diamond), Anwar Ali, Imran Khan Snr, Rumman Raees, Sohaib Maqsood (all Gold), Rizwan Hussain (Silver), Aamer Azmat, Abbas Afridi and Ihsanullah (Emerging)

Peshawar Zalmi 

Haider Ali (Platinum), Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz (both Diamond), Aamer Jamal, Amad Butt, Arshad Iqbal, Hussain Talat, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Haris, Sohail Khan, Usman Qadir (all Gold), Ali Majid, Khalid Usman, Mohammad Amir Khan, Mohammad Umar, Salman Irshad, Sameen Gul, Tayyab Tahir (all Silver), Arish Ali Khan, Sirajuddin and Yasir Khan (Emerging)

Quetta Gladiators

Mohammad Nawaz (Platinum), Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah (all Diamond), Ahsan Ali, Mohammad Irfan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal (all Gold), Ali Imran, Ghulam Mudassar, Hassan Khan, Khurram Shahzad (all Silver), Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Ashar Qureshi and Mohammad Shahzad (all Emerging)