Pakistan’s Stars Among the Top Picks in the BBL Overseas Draft

Pakistani stars were the highlight of the Big Bash League overseas draft, as three of the players got picked in the first round. The most valuable pick, however, was star pacer Shaheen Afridi, who was the draft’s first pick by Brisbane Heat. In total, seven Pakistani players were picked in the overseas draft on Thursday by different teams.

It wasn’t much of a surprise, as any of the eight would’ve picked the former Pakistani skipper as their first pick. It will be the first time that Afridi will be available for a whole season, and that’s the main reason for his selection. The left-arm pacer will join a strong pace attack of Spencer Johnson, Michael Neser, and Xavier Bartlett.

Heat’s batter Nathan McSweeney was excited about Shaheen joining the team but wasn’t sure who would open the bowling.
"We'll have to wait and see. Probably depend on who's opening the batting," McSweeney said.
"But that's the good thing about it. We've got so many options now with Neser, Bartlett, Spencer, and now Shaheen. I'm really excited to see what he's like. Not too excited to face him in the nets, but it's going to be awesome. I think the Gabba itself is a great wicket to bowl fast and be able to swing the ball. So it should suit him to a tee."

On the other hand, Haris Rauf was retained by Melbourne Stars because of his outstanding performance in the last two seasons. Adelaide Strikers tried to poach him with their number 2 pick, but Melbourne Stars matched them with their retention pick.

Adelaide Strikers went on to pick English pacer Luke Wood as their No. 3 pick after missing out on Rauf. Pakistan’s white-ball skipper Mohammad Rizwan was picked as their Platinum pick by Melbourne Renegades. Renegades had already picked dynamic wicketkeeper-batter Tim Seifert as a pre-signing but still chose Rizwan to strengthen their batting.

Sam Curran was picked by Sydney Sixers as their No. 7 pick and will join Babar Azam, who has already been signed by the Sixers as a pre-signing. Lockie Ferguson was retained as the No. 8 pick by Sydney Thunder. Perth Scorchers had already pre-signed Finn Allen, while Chris Jordan was pre-picked by Hobart Hurricanes as their Platinum player in Round One.

Hasan Khan, the highly rated USA all-rounder, was the second pick by Renegades. Hasan Khan has already played one match for Renegades last season and is in fine form for San Francisco Unicorns in the ongoing Major League Cricket.

Pakistani all-rounder Shadab Khan was picked by Thunder and will play for his fourth different club this season in the BBL. He played three games for Heat in 2017, four with Sixers in 2021-22, and five with Hurricanes in 2022-23. Pakistani pacer Hasan Ali was also picked by Strikers with their third-round pick.

BBL’s Overseas Draft Summary

Adelaide Strikers: Luke Wood, Jamie Overton, Hasan Ali

Brisbane Heat: Shaheen Shah Afridi, Colin Munro, Tom Alsop

Hobart Hurricanes: Chris Jordan, Rishad Hossain, Rehan Ahmed

Melbourne Renegades: Mohammad Rizwan, Hassan Khan, Tim Seifert

Melbourne Stars: Haris Rauf (retained), Tom Curran, Joe Clarke

Perth Scorchers: Finn Allen, Laurie Evans, David Payne

Sydney Sixers: Sam Curran, Babar Azam, Jafer Chohan

Sydney Thunder: Lockie Ferguson (retained), Shadab Khan, Sam Billings.