English Reds will open their GPCL campaign against Scottish Mulberries on October 3.
England batting great Ian Bell will lead English Reds in the T20 tournament, featuring eight teams. Bell represented England in 118 Tests, 161 ODIs and eight T20Is, scoring more than 13,000 runs across formats with 26 centuries.
In T20 cricket, Bell has 2790 runs to his name in 107 matches at a strike rate of 124.11, including one hundred and 18 half-centuries.
Left-arm pacer Atif Sheikh, who plays for English County side Northamptonshire, is also part of the 14-member English Reds squad. Still early in his career, Atif has 24 wickets to his name in 10 First-Class matches while he has claimed six scalps each in List A and T20 cricket.
Other Northamptonshire cricketers like Saif Zaib and Emilio Gay are also part of the English Reds line-up.
Since the GPCL organisers have made it mandatory for every team to include players of Indian origin in their line-up and the average age of the side shouldn’t go beyond 25 years, English Reds have picked their squad accordingly.
The squad features a host of Indian origin cricketers like Amrit Singh Basra, Adil Ali, Hisham Khan, and Barinder Pagura.
The Indian origin players are still new to the circuit and have little or no experience of playing high-octane T20 leagues. Playing under the leadership of Ian Bell will certainly enhance their confidence and overall game.
The GPCL T20 will be broadcasted worldwide, thus, it is also a perfect platform for the Indian diaspora global youth cricketers to display their T20 skills, which will ultimately open doors of opportunity for them.
For the inaugural edition of GPCL, slated to be held in Delhi from October 2 to October 9, English Reds are slotted in Pool A alongside Indian Sapphires, Scottish Mulberries and American Indigos.
English Reds will open their campaign against Scottish Mulberries on October 3.
English Reds Squad:
Ian Bell (c), Atif Sheikh, Amrit Singh Basra, Saif Zaib, Phil Harris, Emilio Gay, Adil Ali, Tommy Rex, Ollie Sheen, Hisham Khan, Duv Wood, Barinder Pagura, George Barldwin, Harrison Tagg