Three of T20 cricket's most experienced players headline the latest batch of stars revealed to have nominated for the BBL's inaugural international draft
Rashid, Pollard, Bravo boost BBL draft's star power
The Big Bash has been given a major injection of star power – and experience – with the two most prolific T20 bowlers of all time and the most capped short-form player signing up for the inaugural overseas player draft.
Rashid Khan, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo, who combined have played 1476 T20 matches, scored 20,065 runs and taken 1371 scalps, were today announced as the latest marquee nominations, joining the likes of former South African captain Faf du Plessis in the draft pool.
Rashid, a fan-favourite among Strikers supporters, is almost certain to return to Adelaide with head coach Jason Gillespie already indicating they will do everything they can to retain the Afghanistan leg-spinner, who has played 61 matches for the club.
Pollard and Bravo, whose last KFC BBL appearances were in 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively, are free to be picked up by any club and are not eligible to be snared on a retention pick.
Both Trinidadians are fresh off a stint in England's T20 Blast where Pollard helped Surrey reach the quarter-finals and Bravo collected nine wickets for the Worcestershire Rapids.
Pollard is the most experienced T20 player of all time with 598 matches under his belt across 18 teams, and he is also the format's third highest run-scorer of all time with 11,670 runs at 31.20 and an imposing strike rate of 151.
The former West Indies white-ball captain retired from international cricket in April, while Bravo retired from internationals after last year's T20 World Cup.
Bravo, who holds the record over Pollard by one for the most global T20 titles with 16, is the second most capped player with 542 matches and his 596 wickets has him comfortably ahead of Rashid with 466 as T20's top two leading wicket-takers.
Rashid also recently featured in the Blast for Sussex where he took eight wickets in six games and returns to the BBL (if selected in next month's draft) looking to be the first overseas bowler to claim 100 wickets in the competition (he has 92).
The superstar leggie has big wraps for Afghanistan's 24-year-old opening batter Hazratullah Zazai, who joins him in the inaugural draft pool with a handsome T20 record of 2308 runs at a strike rate of 144 in 82 matches in the Pakistan, Sri Lankan and Bangladesh leagues.
He also boasts a top score of 162no for Afghanistan in T20Is.
The pair are among six Afghan players to nominate, including fellow leg-spinner Qais Ahmad, who is eligible for retention by the Melbourne Stars having taken 13 wickets in 10 matches last season.
More than 100 player nominations have been received since the draft was announced three weeks ago, with New Zealander and championship winning Scorcher Colin Munro the other international currently available for retention, although more players are expected to be announced soon.
Cult hero Sheldon Cottrell joins Pollard and Bravo in a strong 14-player contingent from the Caribbean, which also includes veteran paceman Ravi Rampaul and top-order power-hitter Evin Lewis, who was recently dropped from the West Indies side after falling short of fitness standards.
Cottrell, a slippery left-armer, caught the eye of international cricket fans with his unique marching-salute wicket celebration at the 2019 ODI World Cup, while Lewis is one of only a dozen batters to have scored two or more T20 international centuries and also has three at domestic level.
Trent Woodhill, the BBL's Player Acquisition and Cricket Consultant, said it was a huge boost for the competition to land three world-class and highly sought-after players.
"To receive nominations from players such as Rashid Khan, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo demonstrates the attention on the BBL in the global marketplace thanks to the draft," he said.
Public BBL|12 draft nominations so far
Afghanistan: Rashid Khan, Qais Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Waqarullah Ishaq, Izharulhaq Naveed, Naveen-ul-haq Murid, Hazratullah Zazai
Namibia: David Wiese
New Zealand: Colin Munro, Todd Astle
South Africa: Faf du Plessis, Marchant de Lange, Rilee Rossouw
West Indies: Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Sheldon Cottrell, Chemar Holder, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Anderson Phillip, Khary Pierre, Ravi Rampaul, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayden Seales, Kevin Sinclair, Tion Webster, Nyeem Young