Pooran paired with Aussie Smith in next year’s PSL

Left-hander Nicholas Pooran.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan,  CMC – Nicholas Pooran will team up again with disgraced former Australia captain and batting star, Steve Smith, after being snapped up in yesterday’s draft for next year’s Pakistan Super League.

The 23-year-old left-hander will turn out for the franchise dubbed by organisers as the “Sixth Team”, which replaces the suspended Multan Sultans.

Pooran, picked up in the gold round and Smith, in the platinum round, played alongside each other earlier this year for Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League.

The pair will reunite with seven-foot Pakistani left-arm seamer, Mohammed Irfan, who also featured for Tridents, and was a Diamond round pick for the Sixth Team.

Last year, Pooran managed to revive a slumping career, shining for West Indies B in the Canada T20 Global and then in the CPL as one of Tridents’ leading run-getters.

He was also topped the aggregates for his native Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the Regional Super50 last October, and was subsequently recalled to the West Indies T20 side for the tour of India, following a two-year break.

Meanwhile, fellow Trinidadian and West Indies star, Kieron Pollard, was picked up by Darren Sammy’s Peshawar Zalmi in the platinum round.

Pollard, whose form for West Indies and other domestic franchises has been a cause for concern, played alongside Sammy for St Lucia Stars in the CPL earlier this year.

The other notable buys were West Indies T20 skipper, Carlos Brathwaite, who was a diamond round choice for Lahore Qalanders and recently-retired all-rounder, Dwayne Bravo, who was added to Quetta Gladiators as a platinum pick.

Off-spinner Sunil Narine will also turn out for Gladiators as one of their retained players.

Franchises had the choice of three platinum, three diamond, three gold, five silver, two emerging and four supplementary round draft choices.

More than 630 players were involved in the draft for the fourth edition of the PSL which bowls off February 14, 2019.