Leicestershire Foxes sign Sharjeel Khan for NatWest T20 Blast

Leicestershire County Cricket Club has announced that Pakistan’s attacking opener Sharjeel Khan is set to join their T20 team the ‘Leicestershire Foxes’ as the second overseas player for NatWest T20 Blast in 2017. The team had Umar Akmal and Rilee Rossouw as their overseas players in the previous season.

Leicestershire CCC Chief Executive Wasim Khan MBE said: “I am aware that there was keen interest from other counties, so I am delighted that we have managed to secure someone of Sharjeel’s ability for the duration of the 2017 NatWest T20 Blast campaign.

“He is a powerful hitter who will offer us another option as a T20 opener. We have been watching Sharjeel closely this summer, where he has caught the eye of many with his dynamic ball striking.”

Sharjeel said: “It has been an ambition of mine to play county cricket and I would like to thank Leicestershire County Cricket Club for this great opportunity.

“A number of fine Pakistan batsmen have played for Leicestershire over the years including Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, and Umar Akmal, and I’m pleased to be following in their footsteps.”

The left-hander, who made his T20 debut in 2013, has been very impressive in the past couple of weeks. Sharjeel smacked his maiden ODI century off just 62 balls against Ireland recently and also made an impressive 58 from 30 balls against England in the epic 3^rd ODI at Trent Bridge.

So far, he has scored 1,712 runs with a strike rate of 141.83 and looks like the best possible man to open for Pakistan in the limited overs format.