Chris Gayle, Lasith Malinga Not Picked In “The Hundred” Draft

A lot of big cricketing superstars didn’t find any takers in “The Hundred” draft which took place yesterday. With all the teams being allowed only 3 overseas players, it was expected that some of the players might not be picked, but it was certainly not expected that the likes of Chris Gayle and Lasith Malinga would be overlooked by the franchises.

While Gayle and Malinga are in the twilight of their careers and are not the fittest anymore, they have still been delivering for their international sides as well for different franchises across the globe.

“The Hundred” franchises showed more interest in those players who would be available for the entire tournament, rather than those who would be available only for the parts of the tournament.

The wrist spinners attracted the franchise the most and rightly so, as they are the game-breakers in the white ball formats of the game. Imran Tahir, Shadab Khan, Rashid Khan, Qais Ahmed, Sandeep Lamichhane and Adam Zampa, all of them got contracts.

Apart from the wrist spinners, the franchises also opted for mystery spinners and the fast bowlers who can bowl yorkers. Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Sunil Narine, both were picked in the first round of the draft itself with the salary band of £125,000 pounds.

Mitchell Starc, who is one of the best death bowlers in the world and is renowned for bowling yorkers, also got picked in the first round, while Mohammed Amir got picked in Round 2 with the salary band of £100,000.

Among the batsmen, the franchises went for those who could either bash it at the top of the order or finish the innings lower down the order. Most of the overseas batsmen who found takers in the draft are the attacking openers.

The four Aussie openers David Warner, Aaron Finch, D’Arcy Short and Chris Lynn got picked, while the finishers like Andre Russell, Dan Christian and Fabian Allen were also signed.