IPL teams who could buy the five available Afghanistan cricketers
The 2017 IPL will witness as many as nine players from associate nations for the auctions scheduled to be held on the 20th of this month. Interestingly, Ireland have only two players up for grabs while Afghanistan, quickly moving towards a Test status, have as many as five.
The dynamic opening batsman, Mohammad Shahzad, experienced all-rounders, Mohammad Nabi and Najibullah Zadran, fast bowler Dawlat Zadran and 18-year-old leg-spinner, Rashid Khan, are the five from Afghanistan who will be placed for auction.
Associate players have rarely found favour in the IPL auctions. Ryan Ten Doeschate from Netherlands for Kolkata Knight Riders is the only one to have got some reasonable game time with any franchise. But the availability of Afghanistan players should attract a lot more attention.
They impressed Indians with a good show in the World T20, where they beat eventual champions, West Indies, in the group stages. They have some experienced cricketers who can go hammer and tongs in this format. Here we take a look at IPL teams who might be interested in each of these five cricketers.
#5 Royal Challengers Bangalore - Dawlat Zadran
Royal Challengers Bangalore would be keen in grabbing any decent fast bowler available in the auctions. They have a superb batting line-up but don’t possess the bowling to scare the opposition. While they would have had their eyes set on Ishant Sharma, a base price of Rs. 2 crore would have dented their plans to purchase the Indian fast bowler.
Dawlat Zadran is a skiddy fast bowler and with the short boundaries of the Chinnaswamy Stadium, RCB could use a tricky customer like him. His zip and pace could be a bonus for the Bangalore franchise and coupled with his low base price, Zadran is an attractive package.
Zadran has 39 wickets in 32 T20Is for Afghanistan at a superb average of 23.58 and economy of 7.86. In the Asia Cup in 2014, Zadran pushed the speed gun up to 145kmph, a rarity for players from the associate nations. He is also a handy lower order hitter.