The 8th edition of the Pakistan Super League is just a few days away now. Fans are gearing up to support their favourite players and teams. On the other hand, the players are starting preparations before the tournament kicks off. The foreign players will join their teams slowly as per their availability.
Dozens of overseas players were drafted in for the PSL 2023. Some of them are talented youngsters, while others are renowned T20 players. Out of all those, we have picked the 10 standout cricketers from different nations. So, let’s see who are the 10 most famous foreign cricketers who will take part in the PSL season 8.
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Rashid Khan
Image 1: a-sports.tv
Rashid Khan is a superstar T20 cricketer, and every league wants to have him playing. Every franchise team wishes to have him on their side. The T20 Cricketer of the previous decade will represent Lahore Qalandars in the upcoming Pakistan Super League. He played for the same team in the previous season and played a vital role in their journey to the final.
At the age of just 24, Rashid has picked 501 T20 wickets. He is already a legend in the format, and he has about one and a half decades more to play. These wickets have come in only 370 matches, with an economy rate of 6.38. Taking so many wickets while being so economical is just hard to believe. He is a force to reckon with in this format and can make a massive impact in the upcoming PSL.
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David Miller
Image 2: cricketpakistan.com.pk
David Miller is one of the greatest batters in the history of T20 cricket. At an average of 34.6 and a strike rate of 144.2, David Miller has 2147 T20I runs for South Africa. It won’t be wrong to say that Miller has been the finest middle-order batsman the format has ever seen. He has won countless matches single-handedly for South Africa as well as different franchise teams.
It’s not the first time David Miller will play in the PSL. He was a part of the Peshawar Zalmi side in the 6th edition of the Pakistan Super League. Now, he will represent the strong Multan Sultans team and will feature in their world-class middle-order along with Rilee Rossouw, Tim David, and Kieron Pollard.
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Alex Hales
Image 3: sportzwiki.com
Alex Hales is one of the living legends in the shortest format of the game. He has amassed more than 10,000 runs in T20 cricket at an average of 30.9. The most impressive stat, though, is his strike rate of 147.5. He is one of the toughest guys to bowl in the powerplay, as he can score plenty of runs in no time. Alex Hales represented Karachi Kings in PSL 2020 and helped them to lift the trophy for the first time.
Later, he went to Islamabad United and has been highly successful there as well. In the previous edition of the PSL, he was the top run-getter amongst the foreign players and the fifth overall. He will represent the same franchise again, and they will expect similar heroics again from him.
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Kieron Pollard
Image 4: espncricinfo.com
If you are talking about T20 legends, then it’s impossible to forget the name of Kieron Pollard. The Caribbean superstar is always a hot commodity in franchise cricket. He recently retired from the Indian Premier League. Pollard had carried his IPL franchise Mumbai Indians over the line dozens of times. He is a match-winner day in and day out and has the potential to thrive under pressure.
KP has nearly 12,000 T20 runs to his name at an average of 30.9 and a stunning strike rate of 150.2. He has also played in this competition before and has represented 3 different PSL franchises (Karachi Kings, Peshawar Zalmi, and Multan Sultans). Now, he has gone back to Multan in the PSL 2022 replacement drafts. Currently, he is doing a great job in the ILT20 league, and the Sultans will be hoping for him to replicate those performances in Pakistan.
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Tim David
Image 5: cricketpakistan.com.pk
Like David Miller and Kieron Pollard, Tim David will also represent the Multan Sultans franchise. Tim David is someone who got a lot of fame from the Pakistan Super League. He played for the Lahore Qalandars in the 2021 season and shocked the cricketing world with his brutal power hitting.
Then, he was roped in by the Multan Sultans in the PSL 2022 draft. Once again, he was hard to stop in the death overs. Following his glittery PSL performances, he was bought into the IPL for 8.25 crores. Later, he received his maiden call-up for the Australian team and played in the 2022 T20 World Cup for them.
The 26-year-old has got staggering numbers in all forms of cricket. The Australian has scored 3193 T20 runs while averaging 36.8 and striking at 157.8. In his short T20 International career, he averages 37 and has a strike rate of 159.5. His average and strike rate in List A cricket are 82.8 and 123.1, respectively.
If you are stunned by all these numbers, the most surprising one is yet to come. Tim David averages 31.2 in IPL and scores runs at a strike rate of 210.1. It will be interesting to see how well he can go in the next PSL season.
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Wanindu Hasaranga
Image 6: india.com
Wanindu Hasaranga will play in the Pakistan Super League for the first time in 2023. His franchise Quetta Gladiators will pin plenty of hopes on him. The Sri Lankan cricketer has been truly amazing in the last couple of years. He has taken many wickets without going for many runs. Hasaranga played a major role in Sri Lanka’s victorious Asia Cup 2022 campaign.
After all these extraordinary performances at the International level, Hasaranga joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2022. The franchise bought him for a hefty sum of 10.75 crore Indian Rupees. But he showed why he was worth every penny by being the season’s second-highest wicket-taker. Hasaranga has bagged 186 T20 wickets in just 136 matches while going at only 6.74 runs per over.
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Jason Roy
Image 7: a-sports.tv
Jason Roy has been a part of Pakistan’s domestic T20 league for several years now. After playing for Lahore Qalandars earlier in his PSL career, he later went to Quetta Gladiators. In the previous PSL season, he was the second top run-getter amongst the overseas players and 7th overall. Now, Quetta have retained him for the 8th edition of the league.
Roy is one of those batters who can win a game single-handedly for their team. One of those performances came against Lahore Qalandars in PSL 2022, when he scored a splendid ton. His T20I strike rate of 137.6 reflects his “go hard at the top approach. He hasn’t been in the best of forms of the late but is slowly finding his lost touch again.
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Rilee Rossouw
Image 8: gulftoday.ae
Here’s another Multan Sultan player on the list of the top 10 famous cricketers in PSL 2023. He has been playing for the franchise for a while now and was crucial in their dominating performances in the last 3 seasons. Rossouw has been in terrific touch in T20 cricket since the start of 2022.
After scoring a bulk of runs for Somerset in T20 Blast and Multan Sultans in the PSL, he was called up by South Africa. The southpaw impressed in International colours and his T20I strike rate of 156 is enough to tell that. He also averages 36.8 in the T20 Internationals, and it shows that he is also consistent with run scoring.
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David Wiese
Image 9: twitter.com
David Wiese is one of the most popular foreign players in Pakistan and the PSL. When we talk about the finishers in this tournament, Wiese is the first name that pops into everybody’s head. Whenever Lahore Qalandars found themselves struggling in the slog overs, he came to the rescue every time. Even Lahore Qalandars’ fans have lost count of the matches that Wiese has won for them.
Apart from being a brilliant finisher with the bat, the Namibian has also done wonders with the ball. With more than 3500 runs and 250+ wickets in the shortest form of the game, he has already built a legacy for himself. He has been a vital part of the Lahore Qalandars’ side and also lifted the PSL trophy with them in 2022.
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Mujeeb ur Rahman
Image 10: cricketworld.com
Just like his fellow Afghan cricketer Rashid Khan, Mujeeb’s stats are also well ahead of his age. At the age of just 21, he has snaffled 225 wickets in T20s. The best thing about him is the control he provides to his captain. The off-spinner’s economy rate of 6.61 and 6.22 in T20s and T20Is, respectively, tells how good he is in this format. Mujeeb ur Rahman will represent Peshawar Zalmi in PSL 2023.
