T10 League 2021: 3 Indian players who will play in the tournament this season
The fourth edition of the T10 League will get underway on January 28, 2021, in Abu Dhabi. Eight teams will compete for the championship in the only ICC-sanctioned T10 cricket tournament.
The Maratha Arabians are the defending champions of the Abu Dhabi T10 League. They had some big names like Yuvraj Singh, DJ Bravo, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell McClenaghan, and Chris Lynn in their squad last year. Surprisingly, the Arabians released their star players before the T10 League 2021 Draft.
They signed Shoaib Malik as their icon player. Besides, the Karnataka Tuskers went for a complete revamp as well. The owners rebranded the franchise as the Pune Devils and signed the Asian duo of Thisara Perera and Mohammad Amir before the T10 League Draft.
Players from various countries earned T10 League contracts in the Draft on Wednesday. Three Indian cricketers received deals as well.
Here are the three players who will represent India in the fourth season of the competition.
#3 Pravin Tambe - Maratha Arabians
Pravin Tambe had become the first Indian cricketer to play in the Caribbean Premier League earlier this year. He had also earned a bid from the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2020 Auction.
Unfortunately, BCCI rules prevented Tambe from participating in the IPL because he had earlier played in the T10 League. Many fans would know that Tambe had taken a hat-trick and a five-wicket haul in the T10 format.
He played for the Sindhis in the 2018 edition of the tournament, where he returned with eight wickets in four matches. The Northern Warriors had signed him in 2019, but Tambe did not get a game. In 2021, he will represent the Maratha Arabians.
#2 Ishan Malhotra - Maratha Arabians
Another Indian player who will represent the Maratha Arabians in the upcoming T10 League is Ishan Malhotra. A few fans might remember that Malhotra once played for the Deccan Chargers in the IPL.
Virender Sehwag had destroyed Ishan in the latter's only IPL match. The Indian opener smacked 23 runs off his six deliveries in the fixture between the Deccan Chargers and the Delhi Daredevils during IPL 2011.
Besides, Ishan was a part of the Mumbai Indians squad in the 2010 IPL season. He even played in the Indian Cricket League. It will be interesting to see how Ishan performs in the 2021 T10 League.
#1 Prashant Gupta - Deccan Gladiators
Indian leg-spinner Prashant Gupta played domestic cricket for Uttar Pradesh and Railways from 2008 to 2019. However, in 2019, he signed up for the T10 League.
The Deccan Gladiators bought him in the Draft last year. However, the franchise did not include him in their playing XI even once. This year, Gupta returned to the Draft only for the Deccan Gladiators to sign him again.
Prashant will share the dressing room with big names like Sunil Narine, Imran Tahir, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, and Colin Ingram at the Deccan Gladiators.