Every confirmed squad for the third edition of the ExxonMobil Guyana Global Super League, running July 23 to August 1 at Providence Stadium — plus the replacement signings, the captaincy changes, and the one roster still outstanding a week before the first ball.
For the full tournament guide, see our Global Super League 2026 pillar page.
GSL 2026 Squads: Quick Reference
| Team | League | Captain | Coach | Squad status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guyana Amazon Warriors 🇬🇾 | CPL | — | — | Confirmed (1 replacement) |
| Desert Vipers 🇦🇪 | ILT20 | Chris Green* | Tom Moody (Dir. of Cricket) | Confirmed (2 replacements) |
| Lahore Qalandars 🇵🇰 | PSL | Michael Bracewell | Shaun Tait | Confirmed |
| Perth Scorchers XI 🇦🇺 | BBL | Ashton Turner | Simon Katich (stand-in) | Confirmed |
| San Francisco Unicorns 🇺🇸 | MLC | — | — | Not yet announced |
*Chris Green was named captain but is injured; Rilee Rossouw has been signed as his replacement player. A revised captain has not been publicly confirmed.
Guyana Amazon Warriors Squad
The host franchise and defending champions announced their squad on June 3, 2026. It is the only roster in the tournament with meaningful continuity from a GSL-winning side — four members of the 2025 title-winning team return.
| Player | Role | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Shimron Hetmyer | Batter | West Indies |
| Rovman Powell | Batter | West Indies |
| Johnson Charles | Wicketkeeper-batter | West Indies |
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | Wicketkeeper-batter | Afghanistan |
| Amir Jangoo | Wicketkeeper-batter | West Indies |
| Muhammad Haris | Wicketkeeper-batter | Pakistan |
| Mohammad Nabi | All-rounder | Afghanistan |
| Romario Shepherd | All-rounder | West Indies |
| Dwaine Pretorius | All-rounder | South Africa |
| Keemo Paul | All-rounder | West Indies |
| Matthew Forde | All-rounder | West Indies |
| Gudakesh Motie | Spin bowler | West Indies |
| Imran Tahir | Spin bowler | South Africa |
| Quentin Sampson | Bowler | Guyana |
Replacement: Rahmanullah Gurbaz replaced Glenn Phillips, who was ruled out through injury. The change was confirmed on July 5.
The Gurbaz call-up is notable on record alone. He finished as the leading run-scorer of GSL 2025 with 139 runs and made 60 in the Final against Rangpur Riders. Alongside him, Johnson Charles also made a fifty in that Final, Dwaine Pretorius took three wickets, and Imran Tahir was named Player of the Series with 14 wickets — the most by any bowler in the tournament.
The squad carries four wicketkeeping options in Charles, Gurbaz, Jangoo and Haris, giving the team flexibility in how it structures its top order.
Desert Vipers Squad
The ILT20 champions have had the most disrupted build-up of any team in the tournament, and their squad has changed twice since the announcement.
| Player | Role | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Chris Green* | All-rounder | Australia |
| Rilee Rossouw | Batter | South Africa |
| Daryl Mitchell | Batter | New Zealand |
| Kyle Mayers | All-rounder | West Indies |
| Bevon Jacobs | Batter | New Zealand |
| Vriitya Aravind | Wicketkeeper-batter | UAE |
| Andries Gous | Wicketkeeper-batter | USA |
| Shadab Khan | Spin all-rounder | Pakistan |
| Khary Pierre | Spin bowler | West Indies |
| Kyle Jamieson | Pace bowler | New Zealand |
| Zachary Carter | Bowler | West Indies |
| Ramon Simmonds | Bowler | West Indies |
| Khuzaima bin Tanveer | Bowler | UAE |
| Matiullah Khan | Bowler | UAE |
| Sanjay Pahal | Bowler | UAE |
Replacement 1: Kyle Jamieson replaced Jason Behrendorff, who was ruled out through injury.
Replacement 2: Rilee Rossouw was signed as a replacement for the injured Chris Green.
The availability problem
The Vipers won the ILT20 on January 4, 2026. Of the eleven players who appeared in that final, none of the nine overseas players are in this GSL squad. Injuries and competing franchise commitments accounted for all of them. Sam Curran, a significant contributor to the title win, reported a groin injury in mid-March with no confirmed return date.
Director of cricket Tom Moody has publicly acknowledged the difficulty of assembling the squad under those constraints.
Rossouw’s arrival partially offsets the losses. He is one of approximately twenty players in history to have passed 10,000 career T20 runs.
⚠️ Captaincy unconfirmed. Green was announced as captain before his injury. With Rossouw signed as his replacement player, the Vipers have not publicly named a revised captain. An announcement is expected before July 23.
UAE contingent
Four UAE players — Vriitya Aravind, Khuzaima bin Tanveer, Matiullah Khan and Sanjay Pahal — are in the travelling squad. The franchise has described this as part of an ongoing commitment to developing local UAE talent through exposure to overseas conditions rather than as a squad filler.
Lahore Qalandars Squad
The Qalandars announced their squad on Monday, July 13 — ten days before the tournament — and it produced the biggest team-news story of the build-up.
| Player | Role | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Michael Bracewell (c) | All-rounder | New Zealand |
| Abdullah Shafique | Batter | Pakistan |
| Parvez Hossain Emon | Batter | Bangladesh |
| Shayan Jahangir | Wicketkeeper-batter | USA |
| Delano Potgieter | All-rounder | South Africa |
| Usama Mir | Spin bowler | Pakistan |
| Mehran Mumtaz | Spin bowler | Pakistan |
| Muhammad Naeem | Batter | Pakistan |
| Shamyl Hussain | Batter | Pakistan |
| Farhan Yousaf | — | Pakistan |
| Shahab Khan | — | Pakistan |
| Ali Shabbir | — | Pakistan |
| Imran Randhawa | — | Pakistan |
| Muhammad Basit | — | Pakistan |
Captain: Michael Bracewell Head coach: Shaun Tait
Shaheen Shah Afridi omitted
Shaheen Shah Afridi is not in the squad and has been removed as captain. The franchise has not publicly explained the decision.
Afridi captained Lahore to three PSL titles. The surrounding circumstances, as reported:
- He has signed with Kandy Royals for the Lanka Premier League, which runs July 17 to August 8 — a window that contains the entire GSL. The two tournaments are mutually exclusive.
- The PCB confirmed around July 14 that he had been granted a No Objection Certificate for the LPL. He was not among the 13 Pakistani players issued NOCs for the GSL.
- He was left out of Pakistan’s Test squads for the West Indies and England series and is currently being managed as a white-ball specialist. He remains Pakistan’s ODI captain.
The calendar clash accounts for his absence. It does not account for the removal of the captaincy, which Lahore have not explained. See our full analysis.
A development squad
Team director Sameen Rana has framed the selection as deliberate: the squad is built around players identified as the future of Pakistan cricket, with the tournament serving as exposure to overseas conditions and higher-quality opposition.
Abdullah Shafique and Usama Mir hold senior international caps. Most of the remaining Pakistani players do not. The overseas quota carries the experience — Bracewell (New Zealand), Parvez Hossain Emon (Bangladesh, who received a BCB No Objection Certificate and has previously played for Lahore in the PSL), Shayan Jahangir (USA) and Delano Potgieter (South Africa).
Perth Scorchers XI Squad
The BBL champions announced their squad on July 6. The “XI” suffix denotes a Scorchers-badged selection rather than the full Big Bash-winning side.
| Player | Role | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Ashton Turner (c) | Batter | Australia |
| D’Arcy Short | Batter | Australia |
| Mark Chapman | Batter | New Zealand |
| Ackeem Auguste | Batter | West Indies |
| Aaron Hardie | All-rounder | Australia |
| Ashton Agar | Spin all-rounder | Australia |
| Akeal Hosein | Spin bowler | West Indies |
| Sufiyan Moqim | Spin bowler | Pakistan |
| Jhye Richardson | Pace bowler | Australia |
| Brody Couch | Pace bowler | Australia |
| Joel Curtis | — | Australia |
| Sam Fanning | — | Australia |
| Dian Forrester | — | Australia |
| Usman Khan | — | Pakistan |
Captain: Ashton Turner Head coach: Simon Katich (stand-in)
Coaching change: Adam Voges is unavailable due to prior commitments as an assistant coach with Trent Rockets in The Hundred, which runs concurrently with the GSL. Simon Katich, who captained the Scorchers to the BBL|03 title, deputises.
The squad contains four recognised spin options in Agar, Hosein, Moqim and Turner’s part-time overs — relevant at Providence, which historically favours slow bowling. Hosein, a Trinidadian left-arm spinner, has extensive experience of Caribbean conditions and became the first bowler to take a hat-trick in MLC during the 2026 season with Texas Super Kings.
San Francisco Unicorns Squad
⚠️ The San Francisco Unicorns have not announced their GSL 2026 squad.
This is not an oversight. The Unicorns are still playing.
The MLC 2026 season runs to July 18, with the playoffs and final at the Oakland Coliseum. San Francisco topped the league standings, then lost the Qualifier to Los Angeles Knight Riders by 7 runs on July 15 — LAKR posting 187 for 3, the Unicorns finishing on 180 for 4, with Rovman Powell named Player of the Match for an unbeaten 50 from 15 balls.
That defeat did not eliminate them. Under MLC’s Page playoff system, the Qualifier loser drops into the Challenger, where San Francisco face the winner of the Washington Freedom–MI New York Eliminator. Win that, and they play the MLC final on July 18 in Oakland, California.
The GSL’s opening day is July 23 — and the Unicorns play in it, facing the Guyana Amazon Warriors in a night game at Providence.
That is a five-day window to conclude a domestic season on the west coast of the United States, release players to competing commitments, assemble a new squad, and travel roughly 6,000km to Guyana. It explains the delay entirely.
Who could travel
The following are the Unicorns’ MLC 2026 core. This is not a GSL squad — it is an indication of the player pool the franchise is drawing from:
| Player | Role | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Matt Short (c) | All-rounder | Australia |
| Finn Allen | Batter | New Zealand |
| Lhuan-dre Pretorius | Wicketkeeper-batter | South Africa |
| Sanjay Krishnamurthi | Batter | USA |
| Hassan Khan | All-rounder | USA |
| Hammad Azam | All-rounder | USA |
| Aaron Hardie | All-rounder | Australia |
| Haris Rauf | Pace bowler | Pakistan |
| Xavier Bartlett | Pace bowler | Australia |
| Peter Siddle | Pace bowler | Australia |
| Brody Couch | Pace bowler | Australia |
| Ghulam Mudassar | All-rounder | USA |
Note: Ravichandran Ashwin, the first former India international to play in MLC, was ruled out of the remainder of the 2026 season with a right knee injury. Peter Siddle was approved as his replacement.
Franchise context: the Unicorns launched in 2023 as one of MLC’s six founding franchises, are owned by Cambrian Ventures co-founders Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, play home matches at the Oakland Coliseum, and have Cricket Victoria as their high-performance partner — the same Cricket Victoria that reached the inaugural GSL final in 2024. Head coach for the MLC season is Cam White, the former Australian international and Victoria captain. Whether White travels to Guyana has not been confirmed.
The MLC Overlap: Players Committed Twice
One detail that does not appear on any squad list: several GSL players are currently in the United States, playing MLC, and their arrival in Guyana depends on when their season ends.
| Player | MLC 2026 team | GSL 2026 team |
|---|---|---|
| Rovman Powell | Los Angeles Knight Riders | Guyana Amazon Warriors |
| Aaron Hardie | San Francisco Unicorns | Perth Scorchers XI |
| Brody Couch | San Francisco Unicorns | Perth Scorchers XI |
| Andries Gous | Washington Freedom | Desert Vipers |
| Akeal Hosein | Texas Super Kings | Perth Scorchers XI |
| Romario Shepherd | MI New York | Guyana Amazon Warriors |
The Powell case is the sharpest illustration. He was named Player of the Match in the MLC Qualifier on July 15 — playing against San Francisco, whom he will face again in Guyana eight days later, in a different shirt, for a different franchise.
Hardie and Couch are contracted to San Francisco in MLC and to Perth in the GSL. If the Unicorns reach the July 18 MLC final, both players finish one tournament in Oakland and start another in Guyana five days later — for a team the Unicorns will play on July 26.
Hosein and Texas Super Kings were eliminated, having finished bottom of the MLC table, which makes him available without complication.
Squad Composition: How the Four Confirmed Rosters Are Built
Setting the squad lists side by side shows four distinctly different selection approaches.
Nationalities represented across the confirmed squads: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Guyana, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, UAE, USA and the West Indies.
Guyana Amazon Warriors field the most West Indian squad, as expected of the host franchise, with seven regional players supplemented by four high-experience overseas selections (Tahir, Nabi, Pretorius, Gurbaz) and one Pakistani (Haris). Their distinguishing feature is wicketkeeping depth: four of the fourteen keep.
Desert Vipers carry the widest spread — six nations across fifteen players, with no single nationality dominant. This is a direct consequence of their availability problems rather than a design choice. Four UAE players form the largest single bloc.
Lahore Qalandars are the least diversified: ten of fourteen are Pakistani, with four overseas players. It is also the youngest and least-capped squad in the tournament, consistent with the franchise’s stated development brief.
Perth Scorchers XI are the most Australian squad (nine of fourteen), but their overseas selections are pointedly targeted rather than opportunistic — Hosein and Auguste from the West Indies, Chapman from New Zealand, Moqim from Pakistan.
Spin resources
Given Providence’s reputation as a surface that assists slow bowling, the distribution of frontline spin is worth noting:
| Team | Frontline spin options |
|---|---|
| Guyana Amazon Warriors | Imran Tahir, Gudakesh Motie, Mohammad Nabi |
| Perth Scorchers XI | Akeal Hosein, Ashton Agar, Sufiyan Moqim |
| Desert Vipers | Shadab Khan, Khary Pierre, Chris Green* |
| Lahore Qalandars | Usama Mir, Mehran Mumtaz |
All four confirmed squads carry at least two specialist spinners, and three carry three. Green’s injury, if it rules him out entirely, would reduce the Vipers to two.
Returning GSL 2025 personnel
Only the Amazon Warriors retain a significant core from the previous edition:
- Imran Tahir — Player of the Series, GSL 2025 (14 wickets, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker)
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz — leading run-scorer, GSL 2025 (139 runs); 60 in the Final
- Johnson Charles — fifty in the GSL 2025 Final
- Dwaine Pretorius — three wickets in the GSL 2025 Final
No other 2026 franchise competed in GSL 2025. Lahore Qalandars last appeared in the inaugural 2024 edition, where they finished fourth.
Squad Changes Tracker
| Date | Team | Change |
|---|---|---|
| — | Desert Vipers | Kyle Jamieson replaces Jason Behrendorff (injury) |
| — | Desert Vipers | Rilee Rossouw signed as replacement for Chris Green (injury) |
| Jun 3 | Guyana Amazon Warriors | Squad announced |
| Jul 5 | Guyana Amazon Warriors | Rahmanullah Gurbaz replaces Glenn Phillips (injury) |
| Jul 6 | Perth Scorchers XI | Squad announced; Simon Katich named stand-in coach |
| Jul 13 | Lahore Qalandars | Squad announced; Bracewell named captain, Afridi omitted; Shaun Tait appointed coach |
| Pending | San Francisco Unicorns | Squad awaited |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Shaheen Afridi playing in GSL 2026? No. Lahore Qalandars named their squad on July 13 without him and removed him as captain, without publicly explaining the decision. He has signed with Kandy Royals for the Lanka Premier League.
Who is captaining Lahore Qalandars at GSL 2026? Michael Bracewell, the New Zealand all-rounder. Shaun Tait is head coach.
Who replaced Glenn Phillips in the Guyana Amazon Warriors squad? Rahmanullah Gurbaz, confirmed on July 5. Phillips was ruled out through injury. Gurbaz was the leading run-scorer at GSL 2025.
Who is captaining the Desert Vipers? Chris Green was named captain, but he is injured and Rilee Rossouw has been signed as his replacement. A revised captain has not been publicly confirmed.
Why is Adam Voges not coaching Perth Scorchers XI? He is unavailable due to commitments as an assistant coach with Trent Rockets in The Hundred, which clashes with the GSL. Simon Katich is standing in.
Has the San Francisco Unicorns GSL squad been announced? Not at the time of writing. The Unicorns are still competing in the MLC 2026 playoffs, which conclude with the final on July 18 — five days before their first GSL match. We will update this page when the squad is confirmed.
Which GSL 2026 team has the strongest squad? The Guyana Amazon Warriors carry the most continuity, retaining four players from their 2025 title-winning side including Player of the Series Imran Tahir and leading run-scorer Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Squad strength across the other teams is harder to assess given the volume of replacements and the outstanding Unicorns roster.
How many players are in a GSL squad? The confirmed squads each contain 14 to 15 players, including replacement signings.
Last updated: July 16, 2026. Squads are still being finalised ahead of the July 23 start and this page will be updated as announcements are made. For the full tournament guide — schedule, format, venue, tickets and prize money — see our Global Super League 2026 pillar page.
Sources: official Global Super League channels, Cricket West Indies, ESPNcricinfo, participating franchises, News Room Guyana, Kaieteur News, Guyana Times.
