Sports Reporter :
Allrounders Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, are among the big names to have registered for the second edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL). A total of seven Bangladesh cricketers including Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal have registered to compete in the Lankan Premier League (LPL), Sri Lanka’s premier T20 franchise competition.
In total, players from 11 different cricket-playing nations have shown interest, according to the tournament organisers.
James Faulkner, Ben Cutting, Temba Bavuma, Brendan Taylor and Nicholas Pooran have also made themselves available for the draft, as are former Indian all-rounders Irfan Pathan and Yusuf Pathan. Pakistan, too, are well represented, with Haris Sohail, Mohammad Irfan, Shan Masood and Mohammad Hasnain having registered.
The LPL is slated to begin from July 30 this year and run for three weeks. Despite the concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic, several top T20 cricketers from around the world are set to take part.
Apart from Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, Mehdy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar are the rest of the five Bangladesh cricketers who planned to be a part of the tournament.
“Last year’s success has certainly made a difference with more players from many cricket playing countries looking forward to playing in the LPL, which is a very good sign for the League and Sri Lanka cricket,” Sri Lanka Cricket vice-president Ravin Wickremaratne told the cricket website Cricinfo.
Last year, the Bangladesh Cricket Board had denied permission to its cricketers to take part in the tournament. But ahead of the draft, six more leading cricketers from the nation have registered apart from Shakib, including batting mainstay Tamim Iqbal.
The inaugural edition of the LPL was won by the Jaffna Stallions last year, one of five teams that took part in the tournament. According to SLC, 135 million viewers across television and digital platforms tuned in to watch the final between the Stallions and the Galle Gladiators, with fan engagement throughout the tournament generally quite high.
Some of the leading international players to have registered for LPL:
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Mehdy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah
Australia: Usman Khawaja, Ben Dunk, Callum Ferguson, James Faulkner, Ben Cutting.
West Indies: Nicholas Pooran, Sheldon Cottrell, Rayad Emrit, Ravi Rampaul, Dwayne Smith, Denesh Ramdin, Johnson Charles, Rowman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Ravi Rampaul.
Pakistan: Haris Sohail, Waqas Maqsood, Muhammed Hasnain, Mohammed Irfan, Shoaib Maqsood, Shan Masood, Anwar Ali, Ammad Butt.
South Africa: Rilee Rossouw, David Wiese, Jon Jon Trevor Smuts, Morne Morkel, Rassie Van Der Dussen, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Hardus Viljoen, David Wiese.
Afghanistan: Asghar Afghan, Mohammed Shahzad, Najibullah Zadran, Naveen Ul Haq, Usman Shinwari, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Hazratullah Zazai, Naveen ul Haq, Qais Ahmad.
