MELBOURNE: The form bowler of this year’s cricket World Cup, Shahid Afridi, is the marquee international signing for the Melbourne Renegades Twenty20 team.
The exuberant former Pakistan captain is believed to have resisted overtures from Adelaide, where he played in the Big Bash in 2009-10.
Leg-spinning all-rounder Afridi, 31, will be joined at the Etihad Stadium-based Renegades by Abdul Razzaq, another 31-year-old all-rounder from Pakistan. While Razzaq’s profile pales compared to Afridi’s he is a reliable performer in both disciplines, particularly his accurate medium-fast seam bowling.
Afridi said the lure of playing with Razzaq this summer “was an opportunity that I couldn’t turn down even though I had better money offers from other teams”.
Razzaq is yet to debut in the Big Bash League, which has been expanded for the coming summer from six state-based teams to eight city-based teams. Nevertheless, he lauded its reputation.
“The Big Bash League is a tournament that is highly thought of in the cricketing world, and is probably the best T20 competition in terms of skill level and grounds.”
The signings take the Renegades to almost their full complement, needing only two more players before December to reach the mandatory 18-man squad.
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