Saudi Arabia eyes Shahid Afridi, Inzamam ul Haq for T10 cricket

Pakistan star cricketers Shahid Afridi and Inzamam ul Haq are in talks with the Saudi Arabia Cricket Board over the inaugural T10 cricket tournament scheduled to be held in KSA later this year.

As per Arab News, Afridi and Inzamam are in line to become part of Jeddah T10 tournament, the six-day event that would be held in December at the Ministry of Education Stadium in Jeddah.

“It will be a big-money tournament,” Nadeem Nadwi, the CEO of Saudi Cricket. “We would like it to be high profile and make it more attractive for the players with the prize money. We are working on the possibility of making it $300,000 for the winners and $150,000 for the runners-up.”

Speaking about Afridi, Nadwi said that the former Pakistan captain is a ‘crowd-puller’ and he would want to have such players in the tournament.

“We are talking to Inzamam and Afridi. It is difficult to get Indian players as they have a defined policy where they only play in the Indian Premier League. It will be mainly players from the sub-continent, but we are [also] expecting players from the UK, West Indies and South Africa.”

The Saudi Cricket Board are seeking to bring that tally to eight, including two teams from Pakistan. “We want eight teams or a minimum of six franchises,” said Nadwi. “There would be two from Pakistan, two from India, one from Sri Lanka, one from Bangladesh, one from UAE and one from Saudi Arabia. We’re thinking of three matches a day between five to six days. We think it’s going to be a huge success.”