The trade has left me confused and slightly bewildered
Getting rid of Umar Akmal for Hassan Khan is a great move for Lahore, but why would get rid of a talented youngster for a guy who constantly has issues with either attitude or form
Personally I would keep Narine, but trading for a first round platinum pick is a pretty decent move. They have 2 opportunities in the very first round to pick two world class players
Surprised Quetta got rid of Rahat Ali, despite taking quite a few wickets last year. I understand they have Tanvir now, but ideally you would play Rahat and Tanvir together and try an offload Anwar Ali. Surely he’s worth more than a silver round pick
So here's my take on it.
As explained earlier, I think LQ's strategy is to bolster their Pakistani bowling contingent and to use their platinum/foreign quota to pick batsmen; this is why they have let Narine go. In short, they feel more value is added by using that foreign-platinum pick on a batsman, rather than a bowler/all rounder.
But what motivates QG to sign Umar Akmal?
This is where is gets interesting. The first two seasons QG reached the finals but lost. The first PSL final they lost fair and square, but the PSL2 final and PSL3 knock out games were hosted in Pakistan and QG were the team hurt the most when it came to losing players for the matches in Pakistan. This particularly affected QG's batting, as most their foreign picks were batsmen (KP, Shane Watson etc). They also wisely released Ahmed Shahzad but didn't bother replacing him so their batting reserves weren't great for PSL3; the fact they played Asad Shafiq and Umar Amin throughout the tournament demonstrated that.
In a roundabout way, the two teams have now taken opposite approaches; LQ want most of their platinum-foreign picks to be batsmen, whilst QG (once bitten, twice shy as it were) don't want to put their eggs in one basket- they would much rather have a more "balanced" squad with their "home" players forming the core of the team (in both bowling and batting) with the foreign players then adding value on top of that (kind of like IU lite). QG signing Narine is a good move but it has to be seen in the context of this new strategy; if QG want to reduce the number of foreign batsmen they pick they will invariably need to increase the number of foreign bowlers/bowling all rounders they pick (in order to meet the quotas). The same goes for QG releasing Rahat; they have already signed Sohail Tanvir (domestic pick) and if their strategy is to have more foreign bowlers then someone had to make way.
So why have the different approaches? Well, all of this boils down to the two sides having different motivations. Given their abject failure in the last three seasons, LQ are desperate to reach the play offs this season. What happens after that will happen. Even if they get knocked out immediately in the play offs (which is likely given they are likely to lose some of their foreign players for the Pakistan matches) they will view PSL4 as a win.
QG on the other hand, are sick of being the perenial runner ups; they want to build a team that can go the distance. (What may have been lost on QG is they have actually regressed over the three seasons but that is another story.) With the exception of PSL1, they clearly feel the reason they keep falling short is because they are the team hurt most by the loss of their foreign players. This season they have finally decided to do something about that and that has involved strengthening their domestic bench.
All of that is well and good in principle, but serious questions have to be asked about the implementation of their respective strategies:
QG
i. Was Umar Akmal seriously the best QG could do? It's all well and good strengthening your domestic batting reserves but there are better, safer picks than Umar Akmal.
ii. Why not take a more balanced approach and also sign foreign batsmen who are willing to tour Pakistan (like most the other franchises did)?
iii. Was it really necessary for QG to release their highest wicket taker to make this deal happen (why not just release Anwar Ali when the time came!)
LQ
i. Did LQ really need to sign Rahat Ali? He bowled well last PSL but there are better options out there and getting QG's platinum pick was enough IMO.
ii. Is LQ actually planning on fixing its biggest problem? They still need to sign a local batsman who can play the accumulator role for them; someone like Haris would be perfect. If anything it was their over-reliance on foreign batsmen (who didn't fire/were injured) which hurt them last PSL.
All in all, regardless of what you think of their competing strategies, when it comes to the implementation LQ win in this deal; they have gained two solid domestic bowlers and more importantly have removed Umar Akmal off their books. Sunil Narine will clearly add value to QG, but presumably this means Chris Green will be released. More to the point QG seemed to have rushed into making this deal happen, rather than scouting the domestic scene for batsmen/considered signing foreign batsmen who are willing to tour.