Tymal Mills joins Peshawar Zalmi ahead of PSL 11

ISLAMABAD: Star England fast bowler Tymal Mills has directly joined Peshawar Zalmi ahead of the historic 11th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) to be held from March 26 to May 3.

The franchise announced the signing on its official social media account. This is Mills’ second direct deal for Peshawar Zalmi this season.

First was Australian all-rounder Aaron Hardy, who replaced Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz after the wicketkeeper-batsman withdrew from the tournament. The left-arm pacer was previously part of Peshawar Zalmi’s squad in the third edition of the PSL where he played 5 matches and took seven wickets at an economy rate of 7.21.

In total, Mills has played 30 PSL matches, taking 37 wickets at an economy of 8.41 and has featured in the last two editions for Islamabad United.

Meanwhile, Peshawar Zalmi have also retained key players from their previous squad. Captain Babar Azam was retained in the Platinum category for Rs70 million, followed by Sufyan Muqeem in the Diamond (Rs44.8 million), Abdul Samad in the Gold (Rs28 million) and Ali Raza in the Emerging category (Rs19.6 million).

The highly anticipated PSL 11 player auction, the first in the league’s history to replace the traditional draft system, was held at the Expo Centre earlier this month with all eight franchises finalising their squads.

Peshawar Zalmi strengthened their core with key acquisitions including Michael Bracewell and Kosil Mendis for Rs42 million while adding James Vince and Mohammad Haris to bolster their batting. Amir Jamal and Khurram Shahzad were recruited to bolster the pace attack.