Star all-rounder Shahid Afridi was among several players released by their respective Pakistan Super League (PSL) teams ahead of the player draft next week.
The teams were given a Tuesday deadline to announce their set of retained players and Afridi was among the several big names, including Kumar Sangakkara, Kieron Pollard, Mohammad Hafeez and Shakib Al Hasan, who were released.
Also not retained was former Pakistan and Islamabad United skipper Misbah-ul-Haq who had announced his retirement from the league recently.
Afridi was let go by the Karachi Kings who retained Pakistan batting stalwart Babar Azam for their platinum category along with Mohammad Amir and Colin Munro.
Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman has been retained in the platinum category too by the Lahore Qalandars who have also kept on Shaheen Afridi and Yasir Shah in the gold category.
Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, Shadab Khan and Hasan Ali find themselves retained in the platinum category as well by Quetta Gladiators, Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi respectively.
West Indies all-rounder Pollard has been released by the former Multan Sultans, now called the ‘Sixth Team’. The team have only retained Pakistan veteran Shoaib Malik in the platinum category.
The six franchises will now have their picks in the player draft which is scheduled to take place on November 20 in Islamabad.
RETAINED PLAYERS FOR PSL 2019
Peshawar Zalmi: Wahab Riaz (platinum), Hasan Ali (platinum), Darren Sammy (diamond), Kamran Akmal (diamond, ambassador), Liam Dawson (gold), Umaid Asif (silver), Khalid Usman (silver), Sameen Gul (emerging)
Lahore Qalandars: Fakhar Zaman (platinum), Yasir Shah (diamond), Anton Devcich (gold), Rahat Ali (gold), Shaheen Afridi (gold, ambassador), Hassan Khan (silver), Agha Salman (silver), Sohail Akhtar (silver)
Islamabad United: Shadab Khan (platinum), Luke Ronchi (platinum), Faheem Ashraf (platinum), Mohammad Sami (diamond), Asif Ali (diamond), Rumman Raees (gold), Hussain Talat (silver, ambassador), Sahibzada Farhan (silver), Zafar Gohar (silver), Waqas Maqsood (silver)
Karachi Kings: Mohammad Amir (platinum), Babar Azam (platinum), Colin Munro (platinum), Usman Khan (diamond), Colin Ingram (diamond, ambassador), Imad Wasim (diamond), Mohammad Rizwan (gold), Ravi Bopara (gold)
The Sixth Team: Shoaib Malik (platinum), Junaid Khan (diamond), Mohammad Irfan (diamond, ambassador), Shan Masood (gold), Mohammad Abbas (silver), Mohammad Irfan Khan (silver), Umar Siddiq (silver), Mohammad Junaid (emerging)
Quetta Gladiators: Sarfraz Ahmed (platinum), Sunil Narine (platinum), Shane Watson (diamond, mentor), Sohail Tanvir (diamond), Mohammad Nawaz (diamond), Rilee Rossouw (gold, ambassador), Umar Akmal (gold), Anwar Ali (silver), Saud Shakil (silver)