Qalandars Look to Make it Big in Debut T10 Season Sans Shahid Afridi

By
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: November 14, 2019
1785

Owned by Pakistani businessman Fawad Rana, Qalandars is his second franchise. He also owns the PSL franchise Lahore Qalandars. Initially, former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi was a part of the squad but was not included in the final list. The team also has a few new faces who are very new into franchise cricket.

Image result for Qalandars T10 league owner — Shahid Afridi is missing from the Qalandars squad for T10 League 2019. (Photo Source: AP)

If we get down to analysing the squad, it gives us a very fresh look to it. The likes of Tom Banton, Laurie Evans, Phil Salt, George Garton comes with limited first-class experience behind them. Peter Trego, the 38-year-old cricketer from England is the only player to play over 200 first-class matches scoring close to 10000 runs and picked up 383 wickets. He has also played 201 T20 matches and is well-experienced in this format too. Having played enough T20 cricket, adjusting to the T10 format should not be a problem for Trego.

Sultan Ahmed is the only cricketer from UAE to be a part of the squad and Khalid Hasan isa rookie cricketer from Pakistan to get into the squad.

The batting lineup of the Qalandars looks better than their bowling lineup. England international Dawid Malan, Kiwi wicketkeeper-batsman Luke Ronchi will shoulder the responsibility of opening the batting. Trego with his all-round abilities will be a key contributor in the middle-order along with England all-rounder Chris Jordan. Jordan Clarke and Seekuge Prasanna are the other all-rounders that the team possesses.

Their bowling will rest heavily in the shoulders of Chris Jordan. Having played 8 Tests, 31 ODIs and 43 T20Is for England, Jordan is the leader of the bowling attack. Samit Patel and Seekuge Prasanna provide them with the spin options.

Afghanistan spin sensation Mujeeb Ur Rahman might just be the surprise package for team Qalandars. His talent was first promoted on the IPL stage by Kings XI Punjab after he did well in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. He picked up 14 wickets in his debut season with KXIP.

Lack of overall experience of players and the presence of a number of fresh faces will be a cause of worry as they get down to the start of the tournament. The T10 league being a competitive tournament, with the possibility of teams being knocked out even if they lose one match makes winning every game that much more important.

Also Read: T10 League 2019 Schedule

Qalandars play their first game on November 15 against Team Abu Dhabi and play Northern Warriors and Maratha Arabians on 16 and 17 November. They are placed in group B with the other three teams which includes the defending champions and the potential champions this season.

Team Qalandars Squad 2019

Luke Ronchi, Chris Jordan, Tom Banton, Laurie Evans, Samit Patel Jordan Clark, Phil Salt, Seekkuge Prasanna, Sultan Ahmed, Hassan Khalid, George Garton, Peter Trego, Lahiru Kumara, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Tom Cadmore, Dawid Malan