Top cricketers to feature in T10 League's second edition

Eight teams have formed some of the best combinations from a pool of 64 top cricketers in the Players Draft for the second edition of the T10 League, it was announced on Friday.

The limited ten-over format cricket will be played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium between November 23 to December 2.

Eight teams -- Kerala Kings, Punjab Legends, Maratha Arabians, Bengal Tigers, The Karachians, Rajputs, Northern Warriors and Pakhtoons -- have been drawn in to two groups to fight it out in the 2nd Season of T10 League.

This year, two teams -- The Karachians and Northern Warriors -- have been added to the list of the earlier six teams. This will expand the support and fan base of the T10 League.

This year's Players' Draft featured a number of Afghan players who displayed exceptional skills in international cricket.

Last year's champions Kerala Kings have picked up top class cricketers like Chris Gale, Junaid Khan, Sandeep Lamichhane, Tom Curran, Fabian Allen, Niroshan Dickwella, Benny Howell, as well as Imran Nazir - making a strong come back after being on the sidelines for a while.

Players such as Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Luke Ronchi, Muhammad Sami, Zahir Khan, Umar Akmal, Mitchell McClenaghan, Tom Moores, Anwar Ali, Jade Dernbach and Hassan Khan have been selected by Punjabi Legends.

Bengal Tigers have picked up Morne Morkel, Aamir Yamin, Mohammed Nabi, Kusal Perera, Sherfane Rutherford, Kevon Cooper, Dan Christian, Ali Khan and Rayad Emrit from the draft while Jason Roy, Sam Billings, Asif Ali have been selected by the team previously.

Maratha Arabians, led by the Afghan sensation Rashid Khan, have picked up Alex Hales, Kamran Akmal, James Faulkner, Lasith Malinga, James Vince, Liam Livingstone, Brendan Taylor, Adam Lyth, Roelof Van Der Merwe, Najibullah Zadran and Richard Gleeson.

Pakhtoon team picked up Liam Dawson, Mohammed Irfan, David Willy, Colin Munroe, Andre Fletcher, Sohail Khan, Sharfuddin Ashraf, Chadwick Walton, Shahpur Zadran, Cameron Delport and Gulbadin Naib while team Rajputs chose Mohammed Hafeez, Rilee Rossouw, Mohammed Shahzad, Tymal Mills, Carlos Brathwaite, Rahat Ali, Samit Patel, Qais Ahmad, Ben Dunks, Peter Trego and Shan Masood.

Among the newcomers, the Karachians picked up Jofra Archer, Thisara Perera, Ben Cutting, Muhammad Nawaz, David Malan, Fawad Ahmed, Isuru Udana, Joe Clarke, Samiullah Shenwari and Muhammed Irfan Jr.

Another newcomer, Northern Warriors chose Ravi Bopara, Rovman Powell, Harry Gurney, Chris Green, Obed McCoy, Lendl Simmons, Kharry Pierre and Kennar Lewis from the draft to be added to Dwayne Smith, Nicholas Pooran.

Welcoming the pool of international cricketers, Nawab Shaji Ul Mulk, Chairman of the T10 League, said: "The Players' Draft has been an out and out success, with a wider participation of players from all over the world."

"In addition to the reputed senior star cricketers, the draft also witnessed bids for some of the most sought after young players who have great potential to contribute to the game of cricket," he added.

--IANS

gau/kk/bg