CPL 2020: Pakistan-born Canadian cricketer Saad Bin Zafar picked by St Lucia Zouks

The Pakistan-born Canadian cricketer Saad Bin Zafar has been picked by the CPL franchise St. Louis Zouks for the Caribbean Premier League 2020. The all-rounder is the second Canadian cricketer to play in CPL after Nitish Kumar. Bin Zafar made his debut for CPL in 2018 when he was called into the St. Kitts Patriots squad as a replacement player for the playoffs. 

This year’s season of the Caribbean Premier League is scheduled to take place from August 18 to September 10 in Trinidad and Tobago. Six teams namely Barbados Tridents, Jamaica Tallawahs, St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots, St. Lucia Zouks, Trinbago Knight Riders and Guyana Amazon Warriors would be up against each other to claim the CPL title. In the view of the COVID-19 pandemic, all the matches would be held in Trinidad and Tobago only in a biosecure bubble. 

Saad Bin Zafar’s International Career 

Saad Bin Zafar is a left-arm spinner who made his T20I debut for Canada in February 2010 against the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi. The all-rounder has played 11 T20I matches since 2019 after the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that the matches organized by associate countries would count as internationals. In the 11 matches played, Bin Zafar has taken 17 wickets at an average of 16.8 maintaining an economy of 6.62. Also, he contributed 43 runs with the bat at an average of 14.33. 

In his long cricket career, the 33-year-old made a mark at the 2018 Global T20 Canada Tournament in King City, Ont. He scored 79 not out taking his team Vancouver Knights to victory against West Indies B Team in the championship game. In that particular game, Zafar bowled a spell of 2-26 in four overs while hitting eight fours and three sixes with the bat. 

The CPL 2020 draft was carried out virtually on June 24 in the view of the coronavirus outbreak. All the six teams and the players were asked to fill the forms remotely by the authorities. A total of 537 players had registered for the draft. The main attraction of the CPL 2020 draft was Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, India’s Pravin Tambe, Nepal’s leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane and Australian batsman Ben Dunk. Pravin Tambe attracted INR 5 Lakh price and he was picked by Trinbago Knight Riders.