Renowned white-ball cricketers from different parts of the world were picked in the player draft of inaugural Global T20 Canada League on Sunday (June 3). Tainted Australian cricketers Steve Smith and David Warner will make their comeback to competitive cricket through this league as they were drafted by Toronto Nationals and Winnipeg Hawks respectively.
It is worth mentioning here that Warner and Smith had lost their million dollars contract in the recently concluded Indian Premier League after they were found guilty for their involvement in the ball-tampering scandal.
Now, both are looking to make a fresh start and Canada T20 League will certainly help them to repent their tarnished image.
The other marquee players featuring in the forthcoming Global T20 Canada League are – Shahid Afridi, David Miller, Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Darren Sammy and Lasith Malinga. The league will have 6 teams that will play 22 games, starting from June 28.
Final team listings:
In the players' draft, a coach was to pick two marquee players and then 14 others players from a pool. Toronto Nationals got the first pick. Just like IPL, four spots in each side were reserved for Canadians. A sixth team, which is a representative side from Cricket West Indies, will also feature in the showpiece event.
Toronto Nationals:
Darren Sammy [marquee player], Steven Smith [marquee player], Kieron Pollard, Kamran Akmal, Hussain Talat, Ruman Rias, Nikhil Dutta, Johnson Charles, Kesrick Williams, Naveed Ahmed, Nazakat Khan, Farhan Malik, Nitesh Kumar, Usama Mir, Rohan Mustafa, Muhammad Umair Ghani
Winnipeg Hawks:
Dwayne Bravo [marquee player], David Miller [marquee player], David Warner, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Rayad Emrit, Ben McDermott, Ali Khan, Hamza Tariq, Junaid Siddique, Tion Webster, Rizwan Cheema, Hiral Patel, Mark Deyal, Kyle Phillip
Montreal Tigers:
Lasith Malinga [marquee player], Sunil Narine [marquee player], Thisara Perera, Mohammad Hafeez, Denesh Ramdin, Sandeep Lamichhane, Sikandar Raza, Dasun Shanaka, Isuru Udana, George Worker, Najibullah Zadran, Cecil Pervez, Mohammad Ibrahim Khaleel, Dilon Heyliger, Nicholas Kirton, Rayyankhan Pathan
Vancouver Knights:
Chris Gayle [marquee player], Andre Russell [marquee player], Evin Lewis, Tim Southee, Chadwick Walton, Fawad Ahmed, Babar Hayat, Sheldon Cottrell, Saad Bin Zafar, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Srimantha Wijeratne, Kamau Leverock, Steven Jacobs, Hiral Patel, Rassie Van Der Dussen, Jeremy Gordon
Edmonton Royals:
Shahid Afridi [marquee player], Chris Lynn [marquee player], Luke Ronchi, Mohammed Irfan, Sohail Tanvir, Christiaan Jonker, Wayne Parnell, Asif Ali, Hasan Khan, Agha Salman, Shaiman Anwar, Anmar Khalid, Satsimranjit Dhindsa, Ahmed Raza, Simon Pervez, Abraash Khan
