Cricket's newest entrant, the first-ever T10 Cricket League, will be back for the second season. Marquee names on the list feature Darren Sammy, Shane Watson, Brendon McCullum, Andre Russell, Rashid Khan, Chris Lynn, Eoin Morgan, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik and Sunil Narine, among others.
"The response I can tell you has been exceptional over the year since we launched T10 League. We are very excited about the second season of T10 as it brings cricket to the level of world sports of 90 minutes and fast pace action. For the world, this event is not only unique but also a first of its kind in many respects," said Shaji Ul Mulk, the chairman of the T10 League.
List of players retained
Defending champions Kerala Kings have retained Eoin Morgan, and have also named him as their icon player. Also, other teams have retained Rashid (Maratha Arabians), Afridi has been chosen by Pakhtoons, Sunil Narine will continue to play for Bengal Tigers, Malik will turn out for Punjabi Legends and McCullum will play for Rajputs, which was earlier known as Team Sri Lanka.
Two new teams which will make entry into the tournament for the first time will be Northern Warriors and Karachains and they have picked for Darren Sammy and Shane Watson. The Warriors will also have services of two more West Indians in Andre Russell and Dwayne Smith. Jofra Archer, the newest sensation on the block will ply his trade for the Karachians.
England opener Jason Roy, middle order batsman and wicket-keeper Sam Billings and Asif Ali have been signed up by Bengal Tigers.
The teams will now convene once again for the main draft on September 2. They will pick eleven players for the ten-day tournament in December. Also, with the inclusion of two new teams, the length of the season will only increase the length of the tournament from 13 matches over four days to 28 over ten days.
"The commercial success of T10 is the very fact that we have sold two new teams for USD 1.2 million each and have sold partial shares of Kerala Kings with the same price which has lent an immediate valuation to the existing team owners," said Salman Iqbal, the president of the T10 League.
