Four franchises — Adani Sportsline-owned Gujarat Giants, GMR Sport’s India Capitals, Manipal Group’s Manipal Tigers, and Bhilwara Group’s Bhilwara Kings — came together with a combined purse of ₹32 crore to pick 59 players from the draft for the upcoming edition of the Legends League Cricket (LLC).
The draft included 79 cricketers and each team had a purse of ₹8 crore each. Each team will now have three more days to submit their final squad.
“Among the teams, Manipal Tigers splurged the most amount of ₹6.9 crore and have a remaining purse of ₹1.08 crore. They were followed closely by India Capitals as they spent ₹6.3 crore and Gujarat Giants spent ₹5.51 crore on their stars. Bhilwara Kings were the most economical as they spent ₹5.62 crore. All of them have made judicious spends, the player mix seems great and it will be very interesting to see what each of them do now on the field. I wish everyone the best of luck,” said Raman Raheja, CEO and co-founder of the league.
The teams had already selected their captains and were given a chance to choose one more player on their own accord.
Manipal Tigers named former Australian pace sensation Brett Lee in its squad while Gujarat went for their homegrown hero and former India wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel. India Capitals named Ravi Bopara even as Bhilwara Kings picked Yusuf Pathan, who will now get a chance to team up with his brother Irfan in the tournament.
Gujarat Giants, besides Patel, they picked Sri Lanka’s spinner Ajantha Mendis and former New Zealand captain and left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori. West Indies batter Lendl Simmons is likely to open with captain Virender Sehwag at the top while Mitchell McClenaghan will spearhead the pace bowling department.
“It has been an enthralling draft today with Gujarat Giants securing the envisaged team mix for the upcoming season. On the one hand, former Indian opener Virender Sehwag will be captaining the team and on the other, top-order batsman and wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel from Gujarat will be energising the game like never before,” said Satyam Trivedi, head, Adani Sportsline.
Another Australian speedster Mitchell Johnson was picked by India Capitals. The left-arm fast bowler will be supported by former England pacer Liam Plunkett. The team will also see former South Africa captain and legendary all-rounder Jacques Kallis don their jersey while Ross Taylor will discharge batting duties with captain Gautam Gambhir.
“I am really happy with the squad that India Capitals have put on the table,“ said Gautam Gambhir, the team’s captain.
Besides Lee, Manipal also picked up the spinner Muttiah Muralidharan. The former Sri Lankan off-spinner would get a chance to play with another off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who is also the team’s captain. The Tigers’ other top buys were former South Africa all-rounder Lance Klusener and former Sri Lanka wicket-keeper Romesh Kaluwitherana, who played a crucial role to help his country win the 1996 World Cup.
The entire process of players drafting in a virtual mode was both exciting and intense. Overall it was a good experience despite being virtual. We are excited to be a part of this tournament and look forward to some great cricket,” said S Vaitheeswaran, VC and MD (MEMG) owners of Manipal Tigers.
For Bhilwara, former Australia all-rounder and winner of the 2015 ODI World Cup Shane Watson was the star pick. Besides him, the team also picked Sreesanth and Monty Panesar among others.
“I am really confident that we can do well if we can have the availability of all players and they are all fit,” said Irfan Pathan, the Bhilwara Kings skipper.
The tournament will be a four-team tournament and a 16-match affair. The league will start on September 16 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and will be hosted in five different cities, including Lucknow, New Delhi, Cuttack and Jodhpur.
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