Afridi named icon player for Euro T20 Slam

Mumbai, May 21 (IANS) Former Pakistani captain Shahid Afridi has joined the Euro T20 Slam as icon player while the South African Twenty20 teams vice-captain JP Duminy and his country mate Imran Tahir will be among the six marquee players. The three-week long tournament will be held in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands from August 30.

Afridi will be among six icon players along with Shane Watson from Australia, Brendon McCullum from New Zealand and Rashid Khan from Afghanistan. Duminy and Tahir will join the likes of Chris Lynn from Australia, Babar Azam from Pakistan and Luke Ronchi from New Zealand as marquee players.

The remaining two icon players and one marquee player's names will be announced soon.

The six franchises - Amsterdam Kings & Rotterdam Rhinos from Netherlands, Glasgow Giants & Edinburgh Rocks from Scotland and Dublin Chiefs & Belfast Titans from Ireland, will try to pick these icon and marquee players in the draft.

Afridi, who is the leading wicket taker in T20 international cricket, said: "I have enjoyed my early days in cricket playing in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Kent. I am expecting similar kind of surfaces and weather in Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands."

"It is the part of the world where we won our only World T20 title. I am really excited to go out there and entertain the fans," he added.

GS Holding Inc and Woods Entertainment (promoters of the league) have expressed gratitude and are hopeful to attract many star players going forward.

Gurmeet Singh of GS Holding Inc said: "Having a field of star-studded players from all different continents is very exciting and a step forward in making Euro T20 Slam a huge success. The icon and marquee players will not just attract the local and overseas players but also the sponsors."

"We are hoping to get similar response from the sponsors from all across the world to come and join us as franchises owners and make this league a benchmark in T20 cricket," he concluded.