England bowler James Anderson recently expressed his dismay over the fact that Pakistan batting maestro and national side skipper Babar Azam went unsold during the recent The Hundred Draft.
Anderson, while speaking to the BBC’s Tailenders Podcast, said that he would have splashed out his “entire budget” to bring Babar over to his side.
“I’ll pay double for him [Babar Azam]. I’ll spend the whole budget on Babar Azam,” Anderson said.
Pakistan captain Azam, along with wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan, remained unsold due to limited availability.
“The only thing I can guess is that there might have been an availability issue, which is why he wasn’t picked,” the right-armer added.
It must be noted that Azam became the most-picked in a fan poll ahead of The Hundred draft. The prolific batter topped the charts after securing 25% of the votes.
Additionally, none of the Pakistan women’s cricketers were picked during the draft.
However, Pakistan pacers Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf were picked up by the Welsh Fire in the draft.
Meanwhile, Pacer Ihsanullah was picked by Oval Invincibles. He was the player of the tournament in the recently-concluded Pakistan Super League (PSL) for taking 22 wickets at an Economy of 7.59.
The event will begin on August 1, with the final set to be played on August 27 at the Lord’s Cricket Ground.—Agencies
