Last Updated on 4 years ago by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: Which Pakistan players are in the BBL 12 draft? | Pakistan players in the BBL draft for 2022/23 season
Pakistan players Babar Azam, Mohammed Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi are set to participate in the Big Bash League’s (BBL) inaugural draft for international players.
Other overseas stars set to take a part in the draft include the likes of Kieron Pollard, Rashid Khan, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Colin Munro A total of 170 players are believed to have put their name in for this exercise that is aimed to reinvigorate the BBL.
However, only 28 of those names have been publicised so far, Daily Telegraph reports. The BBL 12 draft will be held on 28th August and it will be broadcast live on Fox Sports.
The Melbourne Renegades are set to get the first pick in the overseas players draft after being drawn first in the league’s weighted lottery process.
Pakistan players in the BBL: Azam and Rizwan – Bona fide T20 stars
Azam and Rizwan have emerged as certified T20 stars with their incredible performances in the shortest format of the international game for Pakistan in recent years. They are the top-two placed batsmen in ICC Men’s T20 Rankings respectively and were integral in Pakistan’s impressive run to the semi-finals in the World T20 last year.
Azam notched 939 runs, including nine half-centuries and a century, at an average and strike rate of 37.56 and 127.58 respectively in 29 T20Is in 2021. In the same calendar year, Rizwan scored 1326 runs at an average of 73.67 in 29 T20Is. He bagged 12 half-centuries and a solitary century as the wicketkeeper-batsman’s stocks shot up exponentially in the T20 format.
Shaheen Shah Afridi – Pakistan’s Bowling Lynchpin
Left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi has grown by leaps and bounds to become Pakistan’s mainstay with the ball as well. He has picked 47 wickets in 40 T20Is at an economy rate and bowling strike rate of 7.76 and 18.81 respectively.
The 22-year-old has delivered such impressive figures whilst bowling the tough overs during the fielding restrictions and the death. His bowling style will particularly suit the prevalent conditions in Australia as Afridi looks set to be one of the coveted picks in the overseas players’ draft.
BBL-12 will commence from 13th December, 2022 and the final will be played on 4th February, 2023. Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Stars will face each other in the opening game of the season at the Manuka Oval.
