The most exciting aspect of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is the emerging players that get to feature in the PSL. With Naseem, Shaheen Afridi and Shadab having emerged as young prospects over the years, it would be interesting to see who would be the new emerging face of PSL 9.
Let’s take a look at some of the emerging talents to look out for in this PSL
Also Read: Pakistan Squad for U19 Asia Cup announced
Emerging Players worth noticing:
Shamyl Hussain
The left-arm batter from Islamabad, Shamyl Hussain has been the talk of the town ever since he scored 150 against the Sri Lanka U19. The young maverick is known for batting as an opener and loves to take his game along by playing as an aggressive batter.
Shamyl is a prodigy who has moved his way up in grade cricket as he started from the U13’s at Islamabad’s cricket set-up. Yet, it was surprising not to see him play during the recently held Pakistan Cup which is a List A tournament in the Pakistani domestic set-up. In the Pakistan Junior League, Shamyl was also the captain of the Gwader Sharks.
Shamyl is also from the breed of educated cricketers as he has done his A levels from Beaconhouse. Shamyl is also the son of Talat Hussain, a Pakistani journalist.
It would be interesting to see if any team would look to invest in a young opener. While the league has a tradition of selecting proven batters, Shamyl could be kept as a long-term prospect among these emerging players
Hunain Shah
Hunain has started to make a name for himself as he took wickets in the recently held National T20 Cup. The 19-year-old has managed to bag 12 wickets in 8 List games and 15 wickets in 12 T20 games. While he is less pacy than his brother Naseem Shah, his right arm does trouble the batters with his pace bowling.
Hunain has been working under the development programme of Lahore Qalander since 2020 and has mostly featured with Central Punjab and Lahore region.
With PSL teams usually taking risks on pacers, Hunain would have a high chance of getting picked during this year’s PSL season.
Ubaid Shah
Another fast bowler from the house of Shah, Ubaid is the third member of Naseem’s family who has taken up the ball to play cricket. The 17-year-old has taken 9 scalps in the U19 ODI series held against Sri Lanka U19.
Like his elder brother, Ubaid is also quite pacy and can ball up to 130 Kph at a very young age. While, like his other siblings he is short, Ubaid will need to up his pace more to be able to threaten international batters.
It would be interesting to see if Ubaid gets selected, or whether Lahore Qalanders decide to develop the younger pacer.
Faisal Akram
The left-arm spin wizard is a player to watch out for. Faisal’s name has already been doing rounds as the chinaman has played 18 List A games with 24 scalps and has also been part of camps of Pakistan Cricket.
Hailing from Multan, Faisal was the highest wicket-taker in the U19 One Day tournament held in 2020/2021, where he represented Southern Punjab and took 27 wickets in 10 matches.
Karachi Kings already picked the young spinner, and most likely be retained under the emerging category. Hopefully, this time around he would be seen spinning webs against the local players.
Khawaja Nafay
Even before Nafay was given a Pakistani domestic Cap, the 21-year-old has played for Chattogram Challengers, Deccan Gladiators and OVerseas Warriors in different T20 leagues.
Nafay has shown to have very good batting technique and style. He has also shown to have good hand-eye coordination along with strength and power. The young bloke holds natural ability and is quite surprising why he has not featured in any domestic games in the National T20 Cup or the Pakistan Cup.
An ideal player who was already hitched by Quetta Gladiators will look to feature in a few games in PSL 9.
Yasir Khan
The young batter from Bannu has already made his PSL debut. However, he has started to gain much more attention after scoring 107 off 59 balls against FATA and 87 not out against the Sialkot Region in the recently held National T20 Cup.
The young batter has some real power and loves to take on the spinners, which indicates that he could be an ideal no.5 batsman in PSL 9.
Yasir is already part of the Quetta Gladiator’s squad, and the emerging batter will most likely be retained for the upcoming PSL.
Haseebullah Khan
A left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman from Pishin, who has played over 39 List A games uptil now with a batting average of 48.63. Starting as an opener for Pakistan in the U19, Haseebullah was amongst the top performers for Pakistan U19 during the ICC U19 World Cup 2022 when he scored 380 runs. He was also named in the team of the tournament.
The young batter has also been praised by Mohammad Yousuf for his freestyle play and keeping abilities. Haseeb looks to pride himself on being a cricketer from Balochistan. While he was ignored by the Quetta Gladiators, Peshawar Zalmi saw his talent and had him drafted as one of the emerging players much earlier.
Like his team Mohammad Harris, Haseebullah should look to make a name for himself in this PSL.
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