UAE T20X: Kumar Sangakkara roped in as an icon player

No country is as busy as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as hosts to T20 tournaments and among them is their own – T20X. The organisers have roped in a number of star current and former players for the inaugural edition of the tournament which will be held between December 19 and January 11 and the latest to join it as an icon player is former Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara.

The 40-year-old southpaw, who last played competitive cricket earlier this year, is the tournament’s fifth icon player besides Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi, England’s Eoin Morgan, South Africa’s David Miller and Windies’ Andre Russell. Sangakkara last played an international T20 in 2014 but his latest appearance in the 20-over format happened in the 2018 edition of Pakistan Super League in which he represented Multan Sultans.

‘UAE T20X a unique league’

“UAE T20X brings a new evolution to T20 cricket, a format that is already driven by innovation and progress. Its dedication to being one of the most globally representative leagues in the world, and commitment to promoting young talent, is an inspirational vision, and I can’t wait to be a part of this unique league,” Sangakkara, who has a strike rate of 119-plus in T20Is and 126-plus in other T20s, was quoted as saying by Gulf News.

Praising the UAE as a high-class host, Sangakkara also said, “The UAE is truly becoming a world-class destination for cricket. The facilities here are beyond excellent, and they’re constantly improving. I think it’s amazing to be here and see what the country is doing to develop the game of cricket nationwide.”

Elated over Sangakkara’s inclusion in the tournament, Salman Sarwar Butt, CEO of UAE T20X, said, “This is a very important milestone for us, and we couldn’t hope for a better name than Sangakkara to complete this line-up of UAE T20X’s player icons.”

Sangakkara, who played international cricket for Sri Lanka between 2000 and 2015, has been one of the most prolific scorers in the game. He has scored over 28,000 international runs with 12k+ runs in Tests and 14k+ runs in ODIs. He was the first to complete 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket and is the only batsman till date to hit four consecutive tons in ODIs.

The inaugural edition of UAE T20X will be a 22-game affair which will see five teams comprising 16-member squad each. Each squad will have six international stars, four emerging and junior cricketers, three ICC Associate Member players besides three players from the UAE.

[interaction id=”5bb4a3e7ae1808449589f33c”]

Keep following CricTracker for more news and updates.