Multan Sultans replace Steven Smith with Andre Russell for PSL 2019
Abeda AshrafEditor
Posted - 2019-01-24T20:57:55+06:00
Updated - 2019-01-25T06:50:16+06:00
Pakistan Super League franchise Multan Sultans on Thursday picked West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell as a replacement for former Australian skipper Steve Smith.
The former Aussie skipper has been ruled out of action for six weeks following an elbow surgery.
During the inaugural season of the Pakistan Super League in 2016, Russel became the highest wicket taker in the competition with 16 wickets in 10 matches. He was owned by two times PSL champions Islamabad United who released him (Russell) ahead of the players' draft in November last year.
The PCB allowed each of the six teams to pick one additional local player in the 20-man squad during the draft.
The Multan Sultans, now owned by Ali Tareen, has made another change as they picked James Vince for Joe Denly.
Multan Sultan's skipper Shoaib Malik said as quoted by
, "We had to deal with the double blow of losing out on Steve Smith and Joe Denly, but we are delighted that we have been able to bring in Andre Russell and James Vince."
"Russell is one of the best T20 cricketers in the world and we are confident that he will bring his match-winning instinct to our dressing room this season," he also said.
All six teams have been given the chance to pick up a Pakistani player during the expansion draft.
Lahore Qalandars took middle-order batsman Saad Ali, Multan Sultans went for the all-rounder Hammad Azam. Quetta and Karachi Kings, meanwhile, went for Mohammad Irfan Jr. and Umer Khan respectively. Islamabad United and Peshawar are yet to submit their selections.