Babar, Shaheen among Pak players for Hundred draft

LAHORE: Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and a host of other top-performing T20 players from Pakistan have signed up for the upcoming draft of ‘the Hundred’.

A total of 57 players – international as well as local – from Pakistan registered themselves for the draft, which will take place on March 23. Apart from Babar and Shaheen, the list includes Mohammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Fakhar Zaman, and Sarfaraz Ahmed.

According to the ‘the Hundred’ media release, a total of 881 players from 28 countries will be up for grabs ahead of the third year of the competition. The women’s competition is to stage a draft for the first time.

Moreover, 113 players were retained by their respective franchises across the men’s and women’s tournaments, which means The Hundred Draft and the open market process in the women’s competition will fill up a further 135 spots.

Among the other standout names hoping to earn a slot in this year’s season are India’s Harmanpreet Kaur, Ben Duckett, Danni Wyatt, Sophia Dunkley, Sarah Glenn, Reece Topley and Kate Cross from England, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, West Indies’ Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell, and Afghanistan’s Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi.

Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates, Kane Williamson and Trent Boult from New Zealand, and Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc, Grace Harris and Amanda-Jade Wellington from Australia will also be in contention for the spots. South Africa’s Anrich Nortje, Dane van Niekerk and Shabnim Ismail are also in this list.

The tournament will kick off at Trent Bridge on August 1 with a double-header between Trent Rockets and Southern Brave – the first of 68 games across the third year of The Hundred.