How much would James Anderson pay to buy Babar Azam?

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.

In the men's competition last year, Trent Rockets prevailed after defeating Manchester Originals in the championship match.

The Oval Invincibles, who defeated Southern Brave in a rematch of the 2021 final, prevailed in the women's competition to claim victory for the second time in a row.

Players who signed up for draft

Women: Diana Baig, Javeria Rauf, Iram Javed, Nida Dar, Fatima Sana, Aroob Shah, Muneeb Siddiqui and Maham Tariq.

Men: Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Amir, Fakhar Zaman, Imad Wasim, Muhammad Akhlaq, Abrar Ahmed, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Umar Akmal, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Noman Ali, Salman Ali, Umaid Asif, Saim Ayub, Danish Aziz, Ammad Butt, Shahnawaz Dahani, Sameen Gul, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan, Salman Irshad, Ahmed Danyal, Aamir Jamal, Akif Javed, Azam Khan, Haseebullah Khan, Mubasir Khan, Sharjeel Khan, Sajid Khan, Umer Khan, Zaman Khan, Sohaib Maqsood, Waqas Maqsood, Shan Masood, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, Usman Qadir, Rumman Raees, Wahab Riaz, Abdullah Shafique, Khushdil Shah, Yasir Shah, Saud Shakeel, Haris Sohail, Talat Hussain, Imam-ul-Haq, Ihsanullah, Abdul Wahid and Amir Yamin.