Srinagar: In a major surprise, the Pakistan star duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have gone unsold at the The Hundred 2024 player draft.In the Draft held on Wednesday, 32 cricketers were picked by eight teams, but Babar and Rizwan found no takers.
Babar and Rizwan along with Pakistan’s T20 captain Shaheen Afridi had registered for the draft at the last moment.Shaheen was picked again by Welse Fire for £100,000. He had represented the franchise last year too.Retired all-rounder Imad Wasim also returned to Trent Rockets for the £100,000 and pacer Naseem Shah was picked by Birmingham Phoenix for £125,000.
Other notable Pakistan stars – Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Hasan Ali and Mohammad Amir were also not picked by any of the franchises.Jason Roy, David Warner, Tim David, and Shakib Al Hasan were also not picked.West Indies players were in high demand at the draft. Northern Superchargers picked Nicholas Pooran as the first signing of the draft.
Andre Russell and Shimron Hetmyer will play for London Spirit, Kieron Pollard has joined Southern Brave and Rovman Powell was a top pick at Trent Rockets.Australians were the players in most demand in womens category with the likes of Meg Lanning, Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner, Lauren Cheatle, Jess Jonassen, Sophie Molineux being picked in the auction.
Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh were the two selected Indians in the draft.Two Pakistan bowlers – Haris Rauf (Welsh Fire) and Usama Mir (Manchester Originals) were retained ahead of the draft.
