The players’ draft for the second season of the Legends League Cricket (LLC) was held virtually on Friday (September 2) in which the four franchises i.e. Adani Sportsline-owned Gujarat Giants, GMR Sport’s India Capitals, Manipal Group’s Manipal Tigers, and Bhilwara Group’s Bhilwara Kings participated.
The two-time T20 World Cup champion Darren Sammy has been signed by Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG), the franchise owners of Manipal Tigers, for the upcoming Legends League Cricket, which will begin on September 16, 2022.
The Tigers, Captian by Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh, had spent the most amount of INR 6,91,20,000 among the four franchises and had a remaining purse of INR 1,08,80,000 left to add more names of their choice.
“The team had already picked 13 stalwarts earlier from the draft. And with the money left, they wanted to pick some more names to be part of their team; they wanted players who are effective T20 players and one could not have shortlisted better names.
“All the three cricketers have extensively played T20 cricket for their respective countries. And also have match-winning contributions for various other current T20 League across the world,” said Raman Raheja, CEO and Co-Founder of Legends League Cricket.
Former South African all-rounder Lance Klusener and also top cricket stars Brett Lee and Muttiah Muralidharan have already been picked by the Manipal Tigers.
Romesh Kaluwitherana, a wicketkeeper for Sri Lanka, is also a member of the squad.
The coaching staff now includes former India selector Sarandeep Singh and also World Cup-winning Australian Coach John Buchanan. The draft process included both of the former cricket players.
The 16-match Legends League Cricket tournament will feature four teams.
Five different cities, including Lucknow, New Delhi, Cuttack, and also Jodhpur, will host the league. That will begin on September 17 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Full Squad After Draft:
Gujarat Giants: Virender Sehwag (Captain) Parthiv Patel; Elton Chigumbura; Chris Tremlett; Richard Levi; Graeme Swann; Joginder Sharma; Ashoke Dinda; Daniel Vettori; Kevin O’Brien; Stuart Binny; Mitchell McClenaghan; Lendl Simmons; Manvinder Bisla; Ajantha Mendis
India Capitals: Gautam Gambhir (Captain), Ravi Bopara, Farveez Maharoof, Mitchell Johnson, Jacques Kallis, Pankaj Singh, Ross Taylor, Prosper Utseya, John Mooney, Mashrafe Mortaza, Hamilton Masakadza, Rajat Bhatia, Liam Plunkett, Asghar Afghan, Denesh Ramdin, Pravin Tambe.
Manipal Tigers: Harbhajan Singh (Captain), Brett Lee, Andrew Flintoff, Vrv Singh Parvinder Awana, Reetinder Sodhi, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Lance Klusener, Ryan Sidebottom, Mohammad Kaif, Phil Mustard, Muttiah Muralitharan, Darren Sammy, Corey Anderson, Imran Tahir
Bhilwara Kings: Irfan Pathan (Captain), Yusuf Pathan, Sudeep Tyagi, Tino Best, Owais Shah, Tim Bresnan, Shane Watson, Sreesanth, Nick Compton, Matt Prior, Samit Patel, Fidel Edwards, William Porterfield, Naman Ojha, Monty Panesar.