BSS, Dhaka:
A total of 11 Bangladeshi cricketers have registered their names for the draft of the next edition of Australia’s domestic T20 tournament Big Bash League (BBL).
Cricket Australia on Tuesday announced the names of 440 male cricketers and 145 female cricketers for the draft, which will be held tomorrow.
Among the Bangladeshi cricketers in the draft are– pacer Mustafizur Rahman and legspinner Rishad Hossain, who got a team from the last year’s draft but couldn’t play the league due to his Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) commitment.
The remaining cricketers are– Mahedi Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Shamim Patwari, Taijul Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Soumya Sarkar and Towhid Hridoy.
The most talked-about name in this year’s draft is probably former England pacer James Anderson, who retired from international cricket last summer.
But he showed a great for in shortest format of the cricket. He has recently returned to the T20 blast after 11 years and played brilliantly for Lancashire. The 41-year-old pacer, who has been overlooked in the IPL and SA T20, is looking for a team in the Big Bash, considered as one of the most prestigious T20 tournaments.
Former India player Siddharth Kaul is also in the draft. He was a member of the 2008 Under-19 World Cup winning team and also wore national jersey for three ODIs and as many T20Is. An Indian Premier League (IPL) veteran Kaul played for Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Generally Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) didn’t allow its players to play any other league in world but for retired cricketers, there is no such bar.
Kaul, who retired from Indian domestic cricket in 2024, is the only Indian
in the draft.
This time, there is a strong presence of Pakistani stars in the draft. Babar Azam has already been roped in by Sydney Sixers. Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf and Mohammad Rizwan have also registered their names in the draft.
