ISLAMABAD: New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell became the first pick of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2025 Player Draft as the two-time winners Lahore Qalandars roped him in to bolster their batting order at a ceremony in Lahore on Monday afternoon, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said.
Mitchell, who has played 70 T20Is, will make his PSL debut later this year. Left-handed batter David Warner was pouched by 2020 PSL champions Karachi Kings as they made use of the second pick in the first Platinum round. Warner, with his wealth of experience including 12,727 T20 runs in 392 T20 matches, will also be among the list of notable debutants this season.
Peshawar Zalmi used the Right to Match option for Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who was picked by Quetta Gladiators. Kohler-Cadmore has represented Zalmi in the last four PSL editions. Gladiators then picked up New Zealand’s Mark Chapman, who has played 81 T20Is in his 10-year long international career and is a dual international as well.
Michael Bracewell and Matthew Short were the last two picks in the Platinum one round as they were gleaned by Multan Sultans and Islamabad United, respectively. Bracewell, an all-format player for New Zealand has played 149 T20s having scored 2,744 runs and taken 66 wickets. Short will add to Islamabad’s explosive batting line-up as they look to add a fourth PSL Trophy to their cabinet later this year.
“In the Platinum round two, Quetta Gladiators and Karachi Kings had two picks each. Gladiators used their Wild Card pick option to snare all-rounder Faheem Ashraf to their squad,” the PCB said in a statement.
“Aggressive Kiwi opening batter Finn Allen was the other player Quetta picked in this round. Allen, 25, has played 47 T20Is for New Zealand and scored 1,141 runs with the help of two centuries and at a strike rate of 158.69.”
Karachi Kings strengthened their pace arsenal as they went for Adam Milne as their first pick of the Platinum two round and followed it up by using Wild Card on Mohammad Abbas Afridi.
Milne will bring in extra pace to PSL 2025 along with his experience of 186 T20s in which has bagged 213 wickets at an average of 23.61. On the other hand, Abbas Afridi, who will now ply his trade for the Kings, was the leading wicket taker – 23 wickets, for Multan Sultans in PSL 2023 and also became part of the team of the tournament.
The Diamond round of picks saw Peshawar Zalmi, Islamabad United and Lahore Qalandars bag quality overseas talent in the form of Corbin Bosch, Jason Holder and Kusal Perera. Bosch was picked by Zalmi, Holder by United and Perera by Qalandars.
Peshawar Zalmi topped up their pace stocks by picking Bangladesh’s Nahid Rana in the Gold category round one. Rana, 22, has impressed one and all with his express pace in his brief international career.
In the same category, Islamabad United picked Aussie left-arm fast bowler Ben Dwarshuis, who has bagged 176 T20 wickets at an average of 22 in 140 games. He will join his fellow countrymen Riley Meredith and Short on the United roster for PSL 2025.
“In the Silver category round three Bangladesh leg-spinner Rishad Hossain was picked up by Qalandars. In a first, United States of America’s (USA) Andries Gous made it to the HBL PSL 2025 and he will turn up for Islamabad United,” the statement read.
“Multan Sultans added Irish pacer Josh Little and West Indies’ spinner Gudakesh Motie to their side during this round.”
In the supplementary round one, Kane Williamson was picked by Karachi Kings, who will join his New Zealand teammate Milne. He will be one of the notable overseas signings for Kings along with Mohammad Nabi, David Warner and Litton Das. Johnson Charles, Tom Curran, Kusal Mendis and pacer Alzarri Joseph were bagged by Sultans, Qalandars, Gladiators, and Zalmi, respectively in the supplementary round one.
In the round two, Sam Billings was snared by Qalandars who used Right to Match card against defending champions Islamabad United, who later picked up Rassie van der Dussen. Quetta Gladiators made a strong pick as they bagged Australia’s Sean Abbott adding more pace and batting firepower to their line-up. Shai Hope was picked by Sultans while Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi will return to Karachi Kings this year.
Shoaib Malik will feature in his tenth consecutive PSL edition as he was picked up by Quetta Gladiators in the Supplementary round three. Among the two Emerging rounds of picks, notable selections were made. Batting prodigy Hasan Nawaz went to Gladiators’ roster, while talented Maaz Sadaqat was picked up by Zalmi.
Saad Masood the right-arm leg-spinner, who can bat as well and made headlines in the recent Champions T20 Cup in Rawalpindi, found home in Islamabad United and will be marshalled by Shadab Khan himself. Hunain Shah returns to Islamabad United while Ubaid Shah was picked up by Multan Sultans.
FINAL SQUADS
Islamabad United: Matthew Short, Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan (all Platinum), Imad Wasim (mentor) and Azam Khan, Jason Holder (both Diamond), Ben Dwarhuis, Salman Irshad, Salman Ali Agha (Brand Ambassador) and Haider Ali (all Gold), Andries Gous, Colin Munro, Muhammad Nawaz and Rumman Raees (all Silver), Hunain Shah, Saad Masood (both Emerging)
Supplementary – Riley Meredith and Rassie van der Dussen
Multan Sultans: Michael Bracewell, Mohammad Rizwan and Usama Mir (all Platinum), David Willey (mentor), Iftikhar Ahmed (Brand Ambassador) and Usman Khan (all Diamond), Chris Jordan, Kamran Ghulam and Mohammad Hasnain (all Gold), Akif Javed, Gudakesh Motie, Josh Little, Faisal Akram and Tayyab Tahir (all Silver), Ubaid Shah and Shahid Aziz (both Emerging)
Supplementary – Johnson Charles, Muhammad Amir Barki, Shai Hope and Yasir Khan
Peshawar Zalmi: Babar Azam, Saim Ayub, Tom Kohler-Cadmore (all Platinum), Corbin Bosch, Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Haris (all Diamond), Abdul Samad, Hussain Talat and Nahid Rana (all Gold), Arif Yaqoob, Najeebullah Zadran, Max Bryant, Mehran Mumtaz and Sufyan Moqim (Brand Ambassador) (all silver), Ali Raza and Maaz Sadaqat (both Emerging)
Supplementary – Ahmed Daniyal and Alzarri Joseph
Quetta Gladiators: Faheem Ashraf, Finn Allen and Mark Chapman (Platinum), Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Amir (mentor) and Rilee Rossouw (all Diamond), Akeal Hosein, Saud Shakeel (Brand Ambassador) and Mohammad Wasim Jr. (all Gold), Haseebullah Khan, Khawaja Muhammad Nafay, Kyle Jamieson, Khurram Shahzad and Usman Tariq (all Silver), Mohammad Zeeshan and Hasan Nawaz (both Emerging)
Supplementary – Danish Aziz, Kusal Mendis, Sean Abbott and Shoaib Malik
Karachi Kings: Adam Milne, David Warner and Mohammad Abbas Afridi (all Platinum), Hasan Ali and James Vince, Khushdil Shah (all Diamond), Aamir Jamal, Muhammad Irfan Khan and Shan Masood (all Gold), Arafat Minhas (Brand Ambassador), Litton Das, Mir Hamza, Tim Seifert and Zahid Mehmood (all Silver), Fawad Ali and Riazullah (Emerging)
Supplementary – Kane Williamson, Mohammad Nabi, Omair Bin Yousuf, Mirza Mamoon
Lahore Qalandars: Daryl Mitchell, Fakhar Zaman and Shaheen Shah Afridi (all Platinum), Haris Rauf (Brand Ambassador), Kusal Perera and Sikandar Raza (all Diamond), Abdullah Shafique, Jahandad Khan and Zaman Khan (all Gold), Asif Afridi, Asif Ali, David Wiese, Muhammad Akhlaq and Rishad Hossain (all Silver), Mohammad Azab and Momin Qamar (both Emerging)
Supplementary – Mohammad Naeem, Sam Billings, Salman Ali Mirza and Tom Curran
Warner, Williamson, Joseph and Mitchell to make debut in Pakistan Super League 2025
https://arab.news/2mbtu
Warner, Williamson, Joseph and Mitchell to make debut in Pakistan Super League 2025

- All six franchises assembled their squads at the glittering PSL 2025 Player Draft ceremony on Monday
- PSL 2025 is scheduled to take place between April 8 and May 19, with 116 players from 10 countries
Tri-nation ODI cricket series kicks off tomorrow at renovated Pakistan stadiums

- Pakistan is hosting New Zealand and South Africa for four-match series ahead of Champions Trophy
- Series serves as preparation for Champions Trophy 2025 that Pakistan is hosting from Feb. 19
KARACHI: A tri-nation One Day International series between Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa will take place from Feb. 8-14 at the newly renovated Lahore and Karachi stadiums, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Friday.
This series serves as preparation for the upcoming eight-nation International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy 2025, that Pakistan is hosting from Feb. 19 onwards. Pakistan has renovated its stadiums in Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi in anticipation of the Champions Trophy, an eight-team 50-overs tournament that will be the first global competition held in Pakistan in 28 years.
“Pakistan will take on New Zealand at the Qaddafi Stadium on Feb. 8,” the PCB said in a press release. “New Zealand will take on South Africa on Feb. 10 at the same venue in the day game.”
A third match will be played in Karachi where Pakistan will take on South Africa at the National Bank Stadium in a day and night match on Feb. 12.
“We are excited to be playing again in front of our home crowd and the newly constructed stadiums in Lahore and Karachi,” PCB quoted Pakistani skipper Mohammad Rizwan as saying.
“The preparations have gone well so far with the players looking to give their best in the tournament leading up to the ICC event.”
The PCB said New Zealand held their first training session at the Lahore City Cricket Association ground on Thursday evening.
“We had a good training session in Lahore under lights and can’t wait to take on the home side on Saturday,” PCB quoted New Zealand Captain Mitchell Santner as saying. “It is great to be back in Pakistan and the side had a good outing when we toured last time.”
It added that the South African team arrived in Lahore in the wee hours of Friday and would have their first training session on Feb. 8.
“It is a great opportunity for the side to warm up before the mega event,” PCB quoted South African skipper Temba Bavuma as saying. “We have a mixed squad and the tri-nation tournament will help us acclimatize to the conditions before we gear up for the ICC event.”
Feb. 8: Pakistan vs New Zealand (day and night)
Feb. 10: New Zealand vs South Africa (day)
Feb. 12: Pakistan vs South Africa (day and night)
Feb. 14: Final (day and night)
Climate change ‘national security’ issue, UNEP adviser says, calling on Pakistan army to be part of solutions

- Armies are huge energy users and have a significant contribution on climate change as military activities burn large amounts of fossil fuels
- Climate change can create new security challenges in regions affected by extreme weather events like rising sea levels, floods, droughts
ISLAMABAD: Aban Marker Kabraji, an adviser for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), said on Friday climate change was a “national security issue” for Pakistan, urging the nation’s all-powerful military to consider it “one of the most important issues” it needed to address.
Armies are huge energy users and have a significant contribution on climate change as military activities, including aircraft operations, naval vessels, and land vehicle usage, burn large amounts of fossil fuels, leading to substantial greenhouse gas emissions. Large-scale training exercises also often involve heavy vehicle usage, contributing to emissions.
Global experts have for years called for military emission reduction targets to be included in national climate strategies. According to a University of Birmingham study in 2021, it has been estimated that 20 percent of all environmental degradation globally is due to military-related activities.
The Global Climate Risk Index says Pakistan is among the countries most at risk from climate change. Extreme weather events like floods, droughts, cyclones, torrential rainstorms and heatwaves have been occurring more frequently and with greater intensity across Pakistan in recent years.
“I think it [climate change] has turned into one [national security issue],” Kabraji told Arab News on the sidelines of the Breathe Pakistan Climate Conference in Islamabad when asked about the role of the Pakistan army in mitigating climate change effects.
“Specifically, just to look at it from the military perspective, from a security point of view, it [climate change] is one of the greatest threats to Pakistan’s existence. Because from climate impact comes social disruption, migration, environmental climate refugees, which basically undermines the stability of a country. So it becomes a very high security concern for anybody who is interested and committed to the long term stability of the state … for anybody in charge of ensuring the security of Pakistan, climate is one of the most important issues to look at.”
Experts say climate change can directly affect military infrastructure such as coastal bases threatened by rising sea levels or training grounds impacted by extreme weather events. Climate change can also create new security challenges in regions affected by extreme weather events like rising sea levels, floods and droughts.
For all these reasons and more, climate change had the potential to “destabilize the state,” Kabraji added, thus making it a “national security issue.”
“Whether it is spoken about in those terms [of national security] as explicitly as you say, perhaps not, but I think it is recognized increasingly [by the military],” she said.
GLOBAL CLIMATE PLEDGES
International donors in January 2023 committed over $9 billion to help Pakistan recover from ruinous floods a year earlier, exceeding its external financing goals. Officials from some 40 countries as well as private donors and international financial institutions gathered at a meeting in Geneva as Islamabad sought funds to cover around half of a recovery bill amounting to $16.3 billion.
Among the donors were the Islamic Development Bank ($4.2 bln), the World Bank ($2 bln), Saudi Arabia ($1 bln), as well as the European Union and China. France and the United States also made contributions.
Commenting on the pledges, Kabraji said the “promised amounts” had not reached the country.
“The intent might have been there and at that time they may have had the budget, but circumstances change,” she said, adding that the Ukraine or Gaza wars and the US election could alter the dynamics entirely and urging Pakistan to set up local agencies to secure financial support to combat climate change.
CLIMATE FOOTPRINT OF CHINESE INVESTMENTS
The UN adviser also commented on the carbon footprint and climate change impacts of China’s massive infrastructure, energy and other investment projects in Pakistan, saying no study had as yet been carried out in this regard.
“It certainly is something the government needs to look at from the point of view of the old ways of doing infrastructure and the new ways that would need to be adapted to what climate impact is all about,” Kabraji said.
But China opened up opportunities for Pakistan as a world leader in energy efficiency technology, particularly in the realm of renewable energy like solar panels and electric vehicles, being the globe’s largest producer and exporter in these sectors.
“Rather than looking at the impact, just look at what the opportunities are because China can bring in the best technologies [to Pakistan] in terms of infrastructure investment and adaptation to climate change,” Kabraji said.
Pakistani finance minister to attend funeral of Aga Khan IV in Lisbon tomorrow

- Prince Karim died on Tuesday after nearly seven decades as the spiritual leader of the global Ismaili Muslim community
- After a funeral ceremony in Lisbon on Saturday, Aga Khan IV will be laid to rest at a private burial ceremony in Aswan, Egypt
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb will represent Pakistan at the funeral tomorrow, Saturday, of the late Prince Karim Al-Hussaini Aga Khan IV who died this week after nearly seven decades as the spiritual leader of the global Ismaili Muslim community, state-owned Pakistan Television reported on Friday.
After a funeral ceremony at the Ismaili Center in the Portuguese capital on Saturday — to be attended by leaders of the community, Portuguese government members and foreign dignitaries — Aga Khan IV will be laid to rest at a private burial ceremony in Aswan, Egypt on Sunday, according to the Ismaili Imamat.
Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini was named the 50th hereditary Imam, or spiritual leader, of Ismaili Muslims on Wednesday after the will of his late father was unsealed, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) said.
“Aurangzeb will represent Pakistan during the last rites of Prince Aga Khan, who passed away at the age of 88,” PTV reported. “He will also participate in the prayer congregation for the departed soul in Lisbon.”
The government of Pakistan has announced a day of national mourning on Saturday for the funeral of Aga Khan IV. The national flag will fly at half-mast throughout the country that day.
Known for his wealth and development work around the world through the Aga Khan Development Network, Prince Karim died in Lisbon, the seat of the Ismaili Imamat. As Aga Khan — derived from Turkish and Persian words to mean commanding chief — he is believed by Ismailis to be a direct descendant of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) through his cousin and son-in-law, Ali, the first Imam, and his wife Fatima, the prophet’s daughter.
The world’s Ismaili community, a branch of Shiite Islam, comprises around 15 million people who live in Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and North America.
Set up in 1967, the AKDN group of international development agencies employs 80,000 people helping to build schools and hospitals and providing electricity for millions of people in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia.
Aga Khan IV also kept up his family’s long tradition of thoroughbred racing and breeding. His stables and riders, wearing his emerald-green silk livery, enjoyed great successes at the top international derbies.
With inputs from Reuters
Pakistan to renegotiate Qatar LNG deal amid high costs — report

- Qatar agreement costly, will negotiate better terms next year, petroleum minister tells parliamentary committee
- Economic crisis has slashed power use in Pakistan, which gets more than a third of its electricity from natural gas
KARACHI: Pakistan will renegotiate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply pact with Qatar, seeking better terms, The News newspaper said on Friday, citing the petroleum minister.
An economic crisis has slashed power use in Pakistan, which gets more than a third of its electricity from natural gas, saddling it with excess capacity it still needs to pay for, under decade-old contracts with independent power producers.
“The Qatar agreement is costly, and we will negotiate better terms next year,” Musadik Malik told a parliamentary committee on energy, the paper added.
Pakistan deferred for a year a deal to buy liquefied natural gas from Qatar and will now receive the contracted LNG cargoes in 2026 instead of 2025, Malik said in December, citing a surplus in LNG.
At the time he said deferring the deal brought no financial penalties, adding that Pakistan deferred five LNG cargoes from Qatar and was negotiating to defer five more with other markets, without disclosing the names of the sellers.
The petroleum ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment
Imran Khan’s party denied permission for Lahore rally, vows massive gathering in northwest

- Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had sought permission to hold rally at Minar-e-Pakistan monument on Feb. 8
- PTI has announced Feb. 8 as a day of protest to mark anniversary of general election it says was rigged
ISLAMABAD: The deputy commissioner’s office in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore has denied permission to jailed ex-premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to hold a rally tomorrow, Saturday, to mark the one-year anniversary of a general election the party says was rigged.
Khan last month called on his party’s leaders and supporters to mark Feb. 8 as a “Black Day” and hold protests across the country to protest alleged rigging in polls last year. The PTI also sought permission to hold a main gathering on the grounds of the iconic Minar-e-Pakistan monument in Lahore on Saturday.
The national polls were marred by a countrywide shutdown of cellphone networks and delayed results, leading to widespread allegations of election manipulation by opposition parties like the PTI and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) headed by Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman. The caretaker government which oversaw the electoral exercise, and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), deny the charges. The US House of Representatives and several European countries have called on Islamabad to open a probe into the allegations, a move that Pakistan has thus far rejected.
In a notification dated Feb. 6, the Lahore deputy commissioner said he would not grant PTI permission to hold a rally at Minar-e-Pakistan due to, among other reasons, security concerns and in view of important events that were scheduled to take place in Lahore in February, including the ICC Champions Trophy, an eight-team cricket tournament that will be first global competition held in Pakistan in 28 years.
“Deputy commissioner Lahore refused to grant permission to PTI to hold jalsa [rally] at Minar-e-Pakistan Lahore on Feb 8, which is otherwise a democratic right of any political party holding a peaceful rally,” the PTI said in a statement sent to media.
Zulfikar Bukahri, a PTI spokesman, said the denial was “not exactly a surprise.”
“There is no freedom of any sort left in Pakistan,” he told Arab News.
In a separate text message to journalists, the PTI said it would hold a “massive” rally in Swabi in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where the party is in power, calling on supporters from other parts of Pakistan to gather there.
The party has held multiple rallies at the huge park surrounding the 70-meter tall monument since 2011. Many political parties in Pakistan’s history have used the Minar-e-Pakistan ground to hold protests and power shows.
Khan’s PTI candidates contested the Feb. 8 elections as independents after the party was barred from the polls. They won the most seats but fell short of the majority needed to form a government, which was made by a smattering of rival political parties led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The party, as well as the Jamaat-e-Islami and other opposition outfits, have alleged mass rigging in the polls, which authorities deny.
Khan himself has been jailed in a slew of cases since August 2023 which he says are politically motivated to keep him out of office.