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AB, Smith headline Pakistan T20 player draft

Cape Town - Proteas legend AB de Villiers and prolific Australian batsman Steve Smith will be two of the star attractions at this year's Pakistan Super League (PSL) player draft.

De Villiers, who retired from international cricket earlier this year, will be in the mix as a foreign Platinum player.

According to the PCB website, De Villiers joins former Proteas team-mates Imran Tahir and Colin Ingram in the draft, which takes place next month.

Former Proteas and Karachi Kings batsman Ingram returns on the back of a very successful T20 campaign in England where he scored 430 runs in 11 matches this season.

"Playing with Karachi Kings gave me a great opportunity to interact with some lovely people from Pakistan," said Ingram.

"The quality of cricket at the PSL stood out for me but, more importantly, I am very proud of the fact that I played in Pakistan and experienced what this game means to Pakistani fans."

The list includes the Windies trio of Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine, New Zealand's Luke Ronchi, Brendon McCullum and Mitchell McClenaghan.

Smith, who is currently serving a one-year ban from international cricket, will be alongside countrymen Chris Lynn and Shane Watson for the upcoming season.

Afghanistan spin sensation Rashid Khan will be looking to play his first PSL game and Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera is also in the mix as a Platinum category player.

All those foreign players on this list who were a part of PSL squads last season can be retained, traded or released into the Draft Pool.

With the trade and retention window currently open, the next few weeks promise to offer great excitement for PSL fans as teams will make key decisions on player retentions, trades and releases.  

"This is a very exciting mix of top quality foreign players," said Ehsan Mani, PCB chairperson.

"In the next few days, PSL will continue to announce more foreign player signings in various categories as the excitement grows around what should be an extremely interesting player draft."

Pakistan Super League returns to action on February 14, 2019.

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