Dawid Malan celebrates selection in T20 Global League

England’s Dawid Malan signed up with the Nelson Mandela Bay team after impressing with a fighting half-century in the second Test against Windies at Leeds, and he can’t stop himself from expressing the excitement. The T20 Global League franchise is owned by Ajay Sethi, a UAE-based businessman and media entrepreneur.

South Africa’s inaugural T20 Global League players draft was held in Cape Town on Sunday and the franchise, which created a sensation by naming their team after the legendary leader Nelson Mandela, has strike bowler Imran Tahir as their Marquee player. They also roped in the legendary Twenty20 star Kevin Pietersen as their International Marquee player. It also includes Pakistani speedster Junaid Khan among its overseas players.

We’ve got a strong team

Sethi said: “We have got a very strong team with KP [Pietersen] and Tahir, who are well suited for the conditions here and with Jon Jon Smuts and Aiden Markram it is a good pick of players and international players like Junaid Khan, Anwar Ali and Heino Kuhn, we look formidable. The high point is the fact that KP is a big crowd-puller and he being South Africa-born wanted to play in Durban as his home, but he got drafted with us and we chose him because he is a friend and wanted to play here,” reported Gulf News.

What also adds to the speciality of the team is that the management and support team will have the likes of Mark Boucher who will be the head coach and three greats — Clive Lloyd, Graeme Pollock and Makhaya Ntini as team ambassadors. Former Indian player Rohan Gavaskar will be the media director.

Thirty-two international players and 96 local players were picked by the various franchises. The teams participating in the league are Benoni Zalmi, Nelson Mandela Bay stars, Bloem City Blazers, Cape Town Knight Riders, Durban Qalandars, Joburg Giants, Pretoria Mavericks and Stellenbosch Monarchs. Cape Town is owned by Shah Rukh Khan and Joburg Giants by GMR Group that owns Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League.

Nelson Mandela Bay squad:

Imran Tahir, Kevin Pietersen, Jon-Jon Smuts, Aiden Markram, Anwar Ali, Heinrich Klaasen, Junaid Khan, Dawid Malan, Sisanda Magala, Heino Kuhn, Andrew Birch, Colin Ackerman, Shadly Van Schalwyk, Sibonelo Makhanya, Wihan Lubbe, Grant Thompson, Lesiba Ngoepe and Ryan Rickelton.