Russell, Gayle and Shakib amongst marquee names drafted at GT20
The league has gone by means of one thing of a revamp since its final version. Winnipeg Hawks, who gained the league final time it was held, now not participate, whereas Edmonton Royals are additionally absent. Their place is taken by Surrey Jaguars and Mississauga Panthers. Each aspect will embrace two marquee gamers and three Canadian gamers from the nationwide aspect, in addition to three rising Canadian gamers, with 25 matches to be performed throughout the 18 days.
This means there will likely be two high-profile North American T20 franchise-based leagues this summer season, after dates for the inaugural season of Major League Cricket, set to be performed in Texas in July, have been introduced final month.
The GT20’s return provides additional pressure on a cricketing calendar already groaning below the load of a number of T20 leagues. It will conflict with Pakistan’s two-Test collection in opposition to Sri Lanka in July, with 14 Pakistan gamers picked up throughout the six franchises. The PCB has insisted that gamers chosen for the Test collection is not going to go to the GC20.
The first two seasons passed off in 2018 and 2019, however following fee disputes and the Covid pandemic, a 3rd version wasn’t held within the subsequent three years.
Squads [select players]:
Surrey Jaguars: Alex Hales, Iftikhar Ahmed, Jason Behrendorff, Liton Das, Karim Janat, Mohammad Haris, Sandeep Lamichane
Mississauga Panthers: Shoaib Malik, Chris Gayle, Azam Khan, James Neesham, Cameron Delport, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tom Cooper
Brampton Wolves: Harbhajan Singh, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee, Mark Chapman, Usama Mir, Hussain Talat, Usman Khan, Logan van Beek, Jan Nocolas Frylinck, Max O’Dowd
Vancouver Knights: Mohammad Rizwan, Rassie van der Dussen, Naveen ul Haq, Reeze Hendricks, Corbin Bosch, Najibullah Zadran, Kartik Meiyappam, Ruben Trumpelmann
Montreal Tigers: Shakib al Hasan, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Shrefane Rutherford, Carlos Brathwaite, Abbas Afridi, Zahir Khan
Toronto Nationals: Colin Munro, Shahid Afridi, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Zaman Khan, Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Gerhard Erasmus