Shadab Khan has been selected by Hobart Hurricanes in the platinum category of Big Bash League’s (BBL) overseas draft.
After not being retained by the Sydney Sixers, the leg spinner was snatched up by the Hurricanes who have Ricky Ponting as their head of strategy. The outfit also used their other two picks on players from Pakistan with Faheem Ashraf and Asif Ali also going to the same team.
Ponting called Shadab Khan a “three-dimensional” player as a reason for selecting him for the Hobart Hurricanes.
Five of the 12 players in the platinum category went unselected, including Andre Russell and Faf du Plessis as the teams focused on availability rather than star power. This year’s BBL will go head-to-head with UAE’s ILT20 league and South Africa’s new league.
Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Jason Roy were other platinum players not selected.
Liam Livingstone to Melbourne Renegades and Trent Boult to Melbourne Stars were early picks while Perth Scorchers decided not to take any from the platinum category.
England’s David Willey, who will be available for the full season went to Sydney Thunder as their platinum pick while the least surprising retention of the day came from Adelaide Strikers who decided to keep Rashid Khan as their platinum player.
From today the teams can start signing replacement players to fill spaces created by initial selections who will miss parts of the BBL. Each team has four slots for replacements.
Hobart Hurricanes:
Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf
Melbourne Renegades:
Liam Livingstone, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Akeal Hosein
Melbourne Stars:
Trent Boult, Joe Clarke, Luke Wood
Brisbane Heat:
Sam Billings, Colin Munro, Ross Whiteley
Sydney Sixers:
Chris Jordan, James Vince, Izharulhaq Naveed
Adelaide Strikers:
Rashid Khan (retained), Colin de Grandhomme, Adam Hose
Perth Scorchers:
Laurie Evans (retained), Phil Salt, Tymal Mills
Sydney Thunder:
David Willey, Alex Hales, Rilee Rossouw
