Pakistan captain Babar Azam is likely to miss out of the second edition of the ILT20. The tournament will be played in January next year but the right-handed batting star has reportedly turned down a lucrative contract. It is being reported that the Men in Green star was offered a contract worth half a million US dollars for featuring in the ILT20 and they even wanted to make him the brand ambassador. However, Babar did not put pen on paper to the deal and is instead likely to feature in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2024.
A report carried by News18, however, claims that there seems to be a prolblem with the image rights. In addition, Babar was also not pleased with the structure of the payment that was offered to him. As a result, he denied the offer which has more or less confirmed his participation for BPL. Notably, while the Pakistan players were not allowed to participate in the inaugural edition of the ILT20, this time around quite a few players from the country will feature in the league.
With Babar's name missing out from the list of players to play in the league, it is Shaheen Afridi who has emerged as one the players to get one the costliest contracts in the tournaments. He has been roped in by the Desert Vipers for a whopping $400,000 that does not include the money he would get for the image rights, making it a bumper contract.
Shaheen is not the only Pakistani who will feature in Desert Vipers at the coming season of the ILT20. He will have his national teammates Shadab Khan and Azam Khan for company. In addtion, the team also boasts of bowling options like Wanindu Hasaranga and Matheesha Pathirana which makes them a dangerous bowling squad.
Desert Vipers Squad: Adam Hose, Alex Hales, Ali Naseer, Azam Khan, Bas de Leede, Colin Munro, Dinesh Chandimal, Gus Atkinson, Luke Wood, Matheesha Pathirana, Michael Jones, Rohan Mustafa, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sheldon Cottrell, Sherfane Rutherford, Tom Curran, Wanindu Hasaranga