Global T20 Canada 2019: Six Pakistan cricketers picked in the player draft

As many as six Pakistan cricketers – former and current – have been picked for the second edition of Canada’s T20 Global League. The tournament will kick off in Brampton, Ontario, on July 25 while the final will be played on August 11. Last year, the inaugural edition was played between June 28 and July 15 with the Vancouver Knights lifting the title. Chris Gayle’s side beat Cricket West Indies B Team by 8 wickets in the final.

The six players who have drafted in by various franchises for the second edition of the six-side tournament are Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Shoaib Malik, Shadab Khan, Umar Akmal and Mohammad Nawaz. Of these, Riaz, Malik and Shadab are currently playing in the Cricket World Cup in England for Pakistan.

While Afridi, who is still a prominent name in franchise leagues around, and Riaz were picked by Brampton Wolves, Shadab and Nawaz went to Edmonton Royals. Malik, who is having a poor run in the World Cup, will play for the Knights while Akmal was chosen by Winnipeg Hawks.

Pakistan, meanwhile, have struggled to get their act together in the ongoing World Cup as none of their prominent names have fired. They lost the crunch game versus India last Sunday by 89 runs and need to win all their remaining four matches if they fancy a chance of staying alive in the tournament.

While Riaz has not been much impressive in the tournament even though he was picked at the last minute replacing Junaid Khan, Malik is having a horror run and might not get a game again after two consecutive ducks against Australia and India. Shadab has played just two games so far and got two wickets.

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Yuvraj Singh also set to participate

Yuvraj Singh who quit the game earlier this month had requested the BCCI to allow him to participate in the Canada league and he was given the nod. Yuvraj has been picked by Toronto Nationals. Manpreet Gony has also been chosen up by the same franchise which shows the Indian board is softening its stand when it comes to Indian players participating in leagues abroad – at least the retired ones.