All you need to know about PSL 2017 draft

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2017 Draft was held at the Dome in Dubai Sporty City in a colourful ceremony, with five franchises bagging the best players for the event to be held in February-March in UAE next year.

Pakistan will stage the 2017 final of the league in Lahore, PSL chairman Najam Sethi announced at the event, as the board attempts to bring international cricket back to the country.

Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum was the top pick of the draft and will lead Lahore Qalandars. Chris Gayle was drafted to Karachi Kings. Kevin Pietersen was retained by Quetta Gladiators. England captain Eoin Morgan was picked by Peshawar Zalmi. Here's a walk through the picks:

Platinum Round 

DRAFT: Round 1

1. Lahore Qalandars: Brendon McCullum
2. Karachi Kings: Chris Gayle 
3. Peshawar Zalmi: Shahid Afridi
4. Quetta Gladiators:Kevin Pietersen
5. Islamabad United: Misbah-ul-Haq

DRAFT: Round 2

1. Lahore Qalandars: Sunil Narine
2. Karachi Kings: Kieron Pollard 
3. Peshawar Zalmi: Eoin Morgan
4. Quetta Gladiators: Sarfraz Ahmed
5. Islamabad United: Shane Watson

DRAFT: Round 3

1. Lahore Qalandars: Umer Akmal  
2. Karachi Kings: Shoaib Malik
3. Peshawar Zalmi: Wahab Riaz
4. Quetta Gladiators: Ahmed Shahzad
5. Islamabad United: Andre Russell 

Diamond Round

Draft Round 1

1. Lahore Qalandars: Sohail Tanveer 
2. Karachi Kings: Muhammad Amir 
3. Peshawar Zalmi: Shakib Al Hasan
4. Quetta Gladiators: Carlos Brathwaite
5. Islamabad United: Sharjeel Khan 

Draft Round 2 

1. Lahore Qalandars: DJ Bravo
2. Karachi Kings: Ravi Bopara
3. Peshawar Zalmi: Darren Sammy
4. Quetta Gladiators: Luke Wright
5. Islamabad United: M. Irfan

Draft Round 3

1. Lahore Qalandars: Yasir Shah
2. Karachi Kings: Kumar Sangakkara
3. Peshawar Zalmi: M. Hafeez
4. Quetta Gladiators: Anwar Ali
5. Islamabad United: Samuel Badree

Foreign players ready to play in Pakistan 

PSL Chairman Najam Sethi said that foreign players were willing to play in Pakistan. He further said the final of the second edition of PSL will be played in Lahore.

Najam Sethi added that the purpose of starting this league was to bring international cricket back to Pakistan.

Draft background 

The players drafting involved 414 foreign and national players who will be further divided into five categories.

The Platinum category includes 28 players, Diamond category 33, Gold category 74, Silver category 255 and the emerging category includes 24 players.

The Platinum category includes nine Pakistani and 19 foreign players.

Top players in this category include Shane Watson, Shakib al Hasan, Alex Hales, Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Kevin Pietersen, Stuart Broad, Brendon McCullum, Kumar Sangakkara, Lasith Malinga, Mahela Jayawardene, Andrew Russell, Darren Sammy, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Kieron Pollard, Marlon Samuels, Sunil Narine, Misbah ul Haq, Muhammad Hafeez, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Wahab Raiz and Younis Khan.

Ten Zimbabwe players and also those countries’ players who are not Test playing nations are also included in the 414 players drafting list.

Players from the non-Test playing nations include nine from Afghanistan, six from Ireland, two from Holland and one player each from Canada, Oman, UAE and USA.

The PSL official Twitter account tweeted the pick order on Tuesday. 

Here is the #HBLPSLDraft Pick Order!
ONLY 1 DAY LEFT! The #JourneyToHBLPSL starts tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/4PpZWVkQna

— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) October 18, 2016