Mohammad Amir most expensive among 35 Pakistanis in ‘The Hundreds’ players’ draft

KARACHI: Pakistan’s fast bowler Mohammad Amir has been included as the most expensive Pakistani cricketer in the players draft for the inaugural edition of England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) newly introduced format “The Hundred”.

Thirty-five Pakistani cricketers were among 239 foreign players whose names were released by ECB with Amir as most expensive among all the Pakistanis with a reserve price of £100,000.

“Chris Gayle, Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc were among the star overseas players available for selection in The Hundred men’s Draft on Sunday, 20 October,” the ECB said on Wednesday.

“Teams will select 12 players on the night — with a maximum of three overseas picks — who will join the already-announced England red-ball contracted players and Local Icons,” it added.

The highest reserve price for players is £125,000. Chris Gayle, Lasith Malinga, Kagiso Rabada, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc and David Warner are listed in the draft for the highest reserved price category.

From Pakistan, Amir carries a reserve price of £100,000 while Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez and Shadab Khan have £75,000 as their reserve price in the draft.

Young pace sensation Shaheen Shah Afridi has his reserve price set as £60,000. Flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Shinwari, Shoaib Malik and Wahab Riaz are also with the reserve price of £60,000.

Asif Ali, Mohammad Abbas, and Imad Wasim will enter the players' draft with reserve prize of £50,000 while Umar Akmal, Hassan Ali, Mohammad Hasnain and Fakhar Zaman are listed with a reserve price of £40,000.

At least 18 Pakistani players are entering the players' draft for “The Hundred” without any reserve price.

Among the players from Pakistan who are without any reserve price in the players draft are Iftekhar Ahmed, Kamran Akmal, Saif Badar, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Adeel Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Asad Shafiq, Yasir Shah, Ahmed Shehzad, Haris Sohail, Sohail Tanvir, Imam ul Haq and Aamir Yamin.

The Hundred is the title of a professional 100-ball cricket tournament in England and Wales run by the ECB commencing in July 2020. The league will consist of eight city-based franchise teams, each of which will field both a men's and women's team.

According to the format, each innings will consist of 100 balls with a change of end after 10 balls. Bowlers will be able to deliver five or 10 consecutive balls with each bowler has a limit of bowling maximum of 20 deliveries. Each inning will have a power-play of 25 balls.