The T10 League has officially been announced for another season and here is all that you need to know…
UAE’s stadiums are eagerly waiting for the cricket season to begin after a short hiatus, and one can no longer resist after the Asia Cup fixtures were announced. However, you might be disappointed to learn that the South African, English, West Indian players will not be starring in the competition. With New Zealand and Australian touring the Emirates in October to face off against Pakistan, the T10 League is all set to bring your heroes together again the following month.
The venues are not yet disclosed, but the 10-day affair is going to be grander than the previous edition, as promised in the Minor Player Draft held earlier this week. The eight teams picked five players each and here is how all the squads stand as of now:
1. Kerala Kings
The season one winners are again the favourites this year with the likes of Eoin Morgain (Icon Player), Sohail Tanvir, Kieron Pollard , Paul Stirling, and Dasun Shanaka. Despite being a power-hitting squad, it’s accompanied by some quality bowling – creating an incredibly balanced team.
2. Maratha Arabians
After a mild start, they will look to bounce back into the league as they chose Rashid Khan (Icon Player), Kamran Akmal, Alex Hales, Dwayne Bravo, and James Faulkner. Can these big names live up to the hype? We hope so.
3. Pakhtoon Team
The most sought-after team of the last year has Shahid Afridi (Icon), Muhammad Irfan, Liam Dawson, Colin Ingram, and David Willey. A mixture of experience and youth!
4. Punjabi Legends
I can already feel the “desi bhangra” tunes , buzzing with loads of excitement. The Punjabis will add colour to the game as they have Shoaib Malik (Icon), Chris Jordan, Luke Ronchi, Liam Plunkett, and Evin Lewis. That is a true power-packed squad!
Rashid Khan, Chris Lynn, Brendon McCullum and Andre Russell are among the big names who will take part in this season's T10 Leaguehttps://t.co/hkgutvkVme
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) July 24, 2018
5. Karachians
The new team belonging to “The City of Lights” picked Shane Watson (Icon Player), Anton Devcich, Ben Laughlin, Jofra Archer, Colin de Grandhomme. The picks seems interesting, and having a talented icon may prove particularly useful.
6. Bengal Tigers
The Tigers are coming to roar after an average season last year. They bade farewell to Sarfaraz Ahmed and have included Sunil Narine (Icon), Jason Roy, Asif Ali, Mujeeb ur Rehman, and Sam Billings. Watch-out for the young guns!
7. Northern Warriors
The new team is all set to debut with a bang as they snatched up Darren Sammy (Icon), Wahab Riaz, Dwayne Smith, Nicholas Pooran, and Andre Russell. To add to the excitement, it looks like it’s going to be a Peshawer Zalmi reunion for the first three!
8. Rajputs
Thrice renamed from Team Sri Lanka last year to Rajasthan Heroes, and now Rajputs – will they be able to save some pride? The responsibility lies on Brendon McCullum (Icon), Chris Lynn, Rilee Rossouw, Muhammad Shahzad, and Muhammad Hafeez. There are bound to be some big shots played by this squad!
This is how all the teams currently stack up, with the major draft due to be held soon. We eagerly await the addition of more stars to the teams – with the Rajputs being my favourites for the this iteration of the T10 League!