Eoin Morgan and Sikander Raza lead a marquee list of players lining up for the upcoming Zim Afro T10 league ahead of the draft is on July 2.
Organised by Zimbabwe Cricket in association with T Ten Global Sports, the five-team event is expected to be one of the most exciting tournaments of the year and will be held from July 20 to 29.
The inaugural edition will see some big name players like Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Asif Ali and Yusuf Pathan lining up in Harare.
Each squad needs to have a minimum of 16 players and at least six Zimbabwean players in the squad out of which one Zimbabwean player will be selected from the emerging player category from the nationwide talent hunt. Ahead of the draft, the franchises are allowed to have a maximum of 4 top internationals as their pre-signed players.
The five teams that will battle it out for the top honours are Harare Hurricanes, Joburg Buffaloes, Durban Qalandars, Bulawayo Braves and Cape Town Samp Army. All the games in the tournament will be played in Harare.
Zimbabwe Cricket’s Managing Director Givemore Makoni said, “We are in the final stages ahead of the Zim Afro T10’s inaugural edition. This gives me immense joy, because to see this play out in reality has been a dream for all of the Zimbabwean cricket family, and it is a watershed moment in the history of the sport in the country. The fans, I am sure, are keenly waiting for the opening day.”
Nawab Shaji Ul Mulk, T Ten Global Sports Founder and Chairman, said, “To bring the T10 to Zimbabwe has been high on the agenda for us in the recent past, and that we are on the home stretch ahead of the inaugural edition of the tournament, is a source of great satisfaction for me. This is a red-letter day in the history of the sport, there will be another landmark on the day of the player draft. We can’t wait to get things rolling and welcome the best of the best players to Harare.”
Pre-Draft signings
Harare Hurricanes: Eoin Morgan, Evin Lewis, Shahnawaz Dahani, Robin Uthappa
Cape Town Samp Army: Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Karim Janat, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Maheesh Theekshana
Durban Qalandars: Asif Ali, Sisanda Magala, George Linde, Hazratullah Zazai
Joburg Buffaloes: Yusuf Pathan, Mushfiqur Rehman, Tom Banton, Noor Ahmed
Bulawayo Braves: Sikander Raza, Ashton Turner, Tymal Mills, Ben McDermott