Four South Africa Players to be a part of Hong Kong T20 Blitz

The Hong Kong T20 Blitz is set to be played from February 6-11. It is an annual T20 tournament in which several players from all over the world join the best domestic players of Hong Kong for the T20 tournament. When international players join such tournaments, it gets more recognition and more people tend to follow the event. Further, these players can help the domestic players during the tournament that helps them to take giant strides in their career.

International presence

Four South Africans will be taking part in Hong Kong those include David Wiese, Cameron Delport, Johan Botha and Roelof van der Merwe. Wiese, Botha and van Der Merwe have played in the IPL before and the franchises are aware of the quality that these players bring in to the squad. These four proteas will be joined by the likes of Kumar Sangakkara (Galaxy Gladiators), Daren Sammy (Jaguars) and Dwayne Smith (Cantons).

As many as 10 overseas players from 2017 have opted to be a part of the tournament for the second time. “I loved the previous season of the Blitz, and cannot wait to represent Gladiators for the second time running. I’m super excited to get back with the team,” said the former Sri Lankan skipper, Sangakkara as quoted by sport24.co.za. The rules of the tournament state that each side is required to field one overseas associate player and one Hong Kong Dragons player. This is a great initiative as such moves help the lesser known players to showcase their talent.

The international broadcast community has also approved the field with numerous international broadcasters set to air the T20 Blitz to more than 175 million homes worldwide in February. The Kowloon Cantons are the defending champions and will bid this year for a three-peat.

Squads:

City Kaitak

Overseas: Samuel Badree (WI), Rayad Emrit (WI), Sohail Tanvir (Pak), Ravi Bopara (Eng), Kyle Coetzer (Sco)
Domestic Players:  Anshuman Rath, Aizaz Khan (c), Waqas Barkat, Jamie Atkinson, Manjinder Singh, Ishtiaq Muhammad, Umar Mohammad, Raag Kapur, Mudassar Hussain, Siegfried Wai, Kalhan Marc Challu.

Galaxy Gladiators Lantau

Overseas Players: Kumar Sangakkara (SL), Seekkuge Prasanna (SL), James Franklin (NZ), Cameron Delport (RSA), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Chetan Suryawanshi (SGP).
Domestic Players: Karandeep Singh, Haroon Arshad, Imran Arif, Shahid Wasif, Amandeep Singh, Li Kai-ming, Moner Dar, Muhammad Balal, Mohammed Osama, Awais Mohammad.

Hong Kong Island United

Overseas players: Kamran Akmal (Pak), Mohammad Irfan (Pak), David Wiese (RSA), Luke Ronchi (NZ),  Hussain Talat (Pak), Ryan Ten Doeschate (NED).
Domestic Players: Tanwir Afzaal, Ehsan Khan, Yasim Murtaza, Zeeshan Ali, Daniyal Bukhari, Ahsan Abbsai, Suhaib Ahmad, Jason Lui, Chris Carter, Hamed Khan.

Hung Hom JD Jaguars

Overseas players: Darren Sammy (WI), Ben Laughlin (Aus), Riki Wessels (Eng), Johan Botha (RSA/Sydney Sixers), Roelof van der Merwe (Ned)
Domestic Players: Kinchit Shah (Capt), Nizakat Khan, Tanveer Ahmed, Adil Mehmood, Kyle Christie, Ninad Deveng Shah, Nadeem Ahmed, Scott Mckechnie, Damien Yee, Aarush Bhagwat, Rana Nasrulla.

Kowloon Cantons

Overseas Players: Dwayne Smith (WI), Wahab Riaz (Pak), Samit Patel (Eng), Ashar Zaidi (Eng), Paul van Meekeren (Ned)
Domestic Players: Babar Hayat, Ehsan Nawaz, Waqas Khan, Ryan Buckley, Adeel Shafrique, Hussain Butt, Hassan Khan, Simandeep Singh, Sunny Bhimsaria, Saad Mahmood, Bobby Chan.