Afghanistan’s charismatic spinner Rashid Khan and West Indies’ Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo headline the latest batch of cricket stars nominated for the inaugural international draft of Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL). Rashid, Pollard and Bravo have played 1,476 T20 matches together, scoring 20,065 runs. And with 1,371 wickets, South African batsman Faf du Plessis joined the draft pool as the latest marquee nomination.
Rashid’s return to Adelaide Strikers is almost certain after a stellar performance in the Indian Premier League with Gujarat Titans, head coach Jason Gillespie has already indicated, a report in cricket.com.au said on Friday. “will do everything they can” keep it up Afghanistan Leg spinner, who has played 61 matches for the club.
“Pollard and Bravo, whose last BBL appearances were in 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively, are free to be picked by any club and do not qualify to be stuck on the retention pick. Both Trinidadians are fresh in England’s T20 Blast, where Pollard helped Surrey reach the quarter-finals and Bravo took nine wickets for Worcestershire Rapids,” the report said.
Pollard, with 598 matches in 18 teams, is the most experienced T20 cricketer of all time. He is also the third highest run-scorer in the format with 11,670 runs at 31.20 and a strike rate of 151. Pollard, 35, the former West Indies white-ball captain, quit international cricket a few months back, while compatriot Bravo retired from international cricket last year after T20Is World Cup in UAE.
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Bravo is the second most capped player with 542 matches and his 596 wickets put him ahead of Rashid Khan with 466 as the top two leading wicket-takers in T20Is.
Rashid recently took eight wickets in six matches at Blast for Sussex and returned to the BBL – if selected in next month’s draft – looking to become the first overseas bowler to take 100 wickets in the competition. He is currently on 92.
Afghanistan’s 24-year-old opener Hazratullah Zazai joined Rashid in the inaugural draft pool with a remarkable T20 record of 2,308 runs at a strike rate of 144 in 82 matches in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh T20 leagues. According to reports, six Afghan cricketers, including fellow leg-spinner Kais Ahmed, have been named to be retained by the Melbourne Stars, who took 13 wickets in 10 matches last season.
A total of 100 nominations have been received since the draft was announced last month and more are likely to join soon. West Indies left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell joined a strong 14-player squad from the Caribbean along with Pollard and Bravo, which also includes pacer Ravi Rampaul and top-order batsman Evin Lewis.
player acquisition of bbl and Cricket Consultant Trent Woodhill said having three world-class cricketers in the draft was a huge boost to the tournament. “Getting nominations from players like Rashid Khan, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo gives the BBL focus in the global market thanks to the draft,” he added.
Draft nominations so far:
Afghanistan: Rashid Khan, Qais Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Waqarullah Ishaq, Izharulhaq Naveed, Naveen-ul-haq Murid, Hazratullah Zazai.
Namibia: David Wiese.
New Zealand: Colin Munro, Todd Astle.
South Africa: Faf du Plessis, Merchant de Lange, Riley Rossouw.
West Indies: Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Sheldon Cottrell, Kemar Holder, Akil Hossein, Evin Lewis, Anderson Phillip, Khary Pierre, Ravi Rampaul, Sherfane Rutherford, Jaden Seals, Kevin Sinclair, Teon Webster, Naeem Young.
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