LAHORE, NOV 12 (DNA) – The players draft for third edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) is underway in Lahore today.

The franchises have already retained nine players each and are to pick one player from the Platinum category, one from the Diamond category, one from the Gold category, two players from the Silver category and two players from the Emerging players pool to complete their squad of 16.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) released a list of 501 cricketers on Friday for the players’ draft in Lahore to be attended by the six franchises of the league.

A large number of international cricket stars, including England’s Ian Bell and Australia’s Shane Watson have expressed their willingness to visit Pakistan to play PSL3 matches, if picked by franchises from the players draft today.

The teams will also be able to select four players in the supplementary round to complete their 20-member squad.

The top international cricket stars — including Australia’s Chris Lynn, Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, West Indies’ master blaster Chris Gayle, Carlos Brathwaite, Dwayne Bravo, South Africa’s JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Wayne Parnell, Jimmy Neesham, Sri Lankan former captain Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman, Mitchell McClenaghan, Colin Munro, Luke Ronchi, Adil Rashid, and Colin Ingram — will be up for selection at the PSL Draft.