PSL Draft: UAE trio go unsold

Barnaby Read 23:14 19/10/2016
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  • Former UAE captain Ahmed Raza and his international team-mates Mohammad Naveed and Rohan Mustafa went unsold at the 2017 Pakistan Super League draft in Dubai on Wednesday night.

    Each of the three UAE players were placed in the silver category of the draft, alongside the likes of Bangladesh opener Imrul Kayes, England’s Ben Duckett and David Willey as well as West Indies’ Andre Fletcher who also all went unsold.

    They were hoping to become the first UAE players to be selected in one of the top T20 leagues in the world, but as their silver category stable mates’ stature suggests it was always going to be tricky.

    To have been given the nod, one of the franchises would have had to have used up one of their seven overseas spots in their squad, something Raza admits was always going to shorten their chances.

    “It’s obviously disappointing not to be picked, I was really looking forward to it,” said Raza. “But this gives you motivation to work even harder and perform more at the international level to be recognised.

    “The first step is the hardest and I’m aware of that. In the coming season one has to perform exceedingly well to be there among the big names.”

    Raza was acutely aware of the difficulties being labelled in the draft as an overseas player and says he will speak to the board about making use of being a Pakistan national by playing more domestic cricket in Pakistan in order to qualify as a local player.

    “I’ll get in touch with the board and seek their help to get games in Pakistan domestic [cricket] to be picked as a Pakistani national, not an overseas,” Raza said, but not at the expense of playing for the UAE, which he would “never leave for anything in the world”.

    It seemed their best hope of selection was that ex-UAE coach Aaqib Javed, now director of cricket at Lahore Qalandars, would take one of his former aides with him.

    But, having undertaken an exhaustive talent programme in the search of unearthed Pakistan gems, room in Javed’s side was at a premium and a focus on local players was preferred.

    “Aaqib gave hope before he was leaving but I can’t blame him that he didn’t pick me or my team-mates. Obviously he might have certain restrictions as per the procedures,” added Raza who called on the Emirates Cricket Board to aid the national team in playing overseas.

    “We need help from our board to pursue this further with the leagues around the world. The Board could pursue this at the highest level and try to get their key players to travel to different countries and play domestic cricket which will eventually help UAE cricket.

    “I’m sure this has been on the minds of the concerned people but we as players have to give them time to get this sorted in the coming years.”

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