LONDON: All-rounder Iftikhar Ahmed and five other players from Pakistan have signed up for the upcoming draft of ‘The Hundred’ – England’s first of its sort league. 

Following an update regarding the overseas players’ list for this year’s The Hundred, the number of Pakistan players, who registered themselves for the draft, rose from 57 to 63 after Iftikhar, Ahmed Shehzad, Tayyab Tahir, Mir Hamza and Muhammad Ilyas were added to the list.

Earlier, a number of top-performing T20I players from Pakistan including skipper Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Fakhar Zaman, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Diana Baig registered for the draft, which will take place on March 23.

Among the other standout names hoping to earn a slot in this year’s season include Richa Ghosh, Tamim Iqbal, Sneh Rana and Ben Foakes.

However, a total of seven overseas including Mitchell Starc, Megan Schutt, Anrich Nortje, Aiden Markram and Tayla Vlaeminck are no longer available for selection in The Hundred Draft.

According to the ‘The Hundred’ media release, a total of 881 players from 28 countries will be up for grabs ahead of the third year of the competition. The women’s competition is to stage a draft for the first time.

Moreover, 113 players were retained by their respective franchises across the men’s and women’s tournaments, which means The Hundred Draft and the open market process in the women’s competition will fill up a further 135 spots.

The tournament will kick off at Trent Bridge on August 1 with a double-header between Trent Rockets and Southern Brave – the first of 68 games across the third year of The Hundred.

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