Afridi, Rizwan and Rauf among top picks at BBL overseas drafts

Pakistan stars Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan and Haris Rauf were the most popular selections at the BBL overseas drafts with Afridi selected No.1 overall on Thursday and seven Pakistan players taken in total.

Nearly every club in the draft would have taken Afridi with their first pick after he nominated for the BBL draft for the first time with availability for the whole season. Brisbane Heat had no hesitation in taking the left-arm quick who will join all-star pace attack alongside Spencer Johnson, Michael Neser and Xavier Bartlett.

Heat batter Nathan McSweeney was unsure who would take the new ball.

"We'll have to wait and see. Probably depend on who's opening the batting," McSweeney said.

"But that's the good thing about it. We've got so many options now with Neser, Bartlett, Spencer and now Shaheen. I'm really excited to see what he's like. Not too excited to face him in the nets but it's going to be awesome. I think the Gabba itself is a great wicket to bowl fast and be able to swing the ball. So it should suit him to a tee."

Rauf will return to Melbourne Stars who needed to use their retention pick to keep him after Adelaide Strikers tried to poach Rauf with pick No.2.

Rizwan was taken with the fourth pick by Melbourne Renegades despite already having dynamic wicketkeeper-batter Tim Seifert as a pre-signing.

Adelaide Strikers pulled a slight surprise by selecting England left-arm seamer Luke Wood as a platinum pick with pick No.3 after missing out on Rauf. That left fellow Englishman Sam Curran on the table to be selected by Sydney Sixers at pick No.7 while Sydney Thunder retained Lockie Ferguson with pick No.8.

Perth Scorchers and Hobart Hurricanes confirmed pre-signings Finn Allen and Chris Jordan as their platinum players in round one.

Renegades picked uncapped USA allrounder Hassan Khan very high with their second pick at No.11. Khan played one game for Renegades last season and has been a key contributor to San Francisco Unicorns team early in the MLC season, with Unicorns managed by Cricket Victoria's high performance team who also run Renegades.

Shadab Khan was taken by Thunder with pick No.12 who had traded up in the second round to get him. Thunder will be Shadab's fourth different BBL club after playing three games for Heat in 2017, four with Sixers in 2021-22 and five with Hurricanes in 2022-23.

Rishad Hossain was the only Bangladesh player taken in the draft with Hurricanes picking him with pick No.13. Hossain was selected by Hurricanes last season but was withdrawn from the tournament after he wasn't granted an NOC.

Hurricanes also selected England legspinning allrounder Rehan Ahmed in the fourth round to bolster their spin options. Laurie Evans and David Payne return to Scorchers having won BBL titles in Perth previously but both were unable to be retained last season by Scorchers and played at Renegades and Strikers respectively.

"It's always nice to bring guys back who have been successful for your club, and Laurie's performances for us over a period of time were excellent," Scorchers coach Adam Voges said. "We were sad to see him leave last year, but we're really excited to welcome him back. He's one of the overseas players who has performed really strongly at Optus Stadium, at our home in our home conditions, which can be tricky at times. So to welcome him back into the fold, into our middle order, is going to be really exciting."

Strikers added another popular Pakistan pacer in Hasan Ali with their third-round pick. England keeper-bat Tom Alsop will return to Heat while England legspinner Jafer Chohan will return to Sixers after being a surprise selection last season.

Adelaide Strikers: Luke Wood, Jamie Overton, Hasan Ali
Brisbane Heat: Shaheen Shah Afridi, Colin Munro, Tom Alsop
Hobart Hurricanes: Chris Jordan, Rishad Hossain, Rehan Ahmed
Melbourne Renegades: Mohammad Rizwan, Hassan Khan, Tim Seifert
Melbourne Stars: Haris Rauf, Tom Curran, Joe Clarke
Perth Scorchers: Finn Allen, Laurie Evans, David Payne
Sydney Sixers: Sam Curran, Babar Azam, Jafer Chohan
Sydney Thunder: Lockie Ferguson, Shadab Khan, Sam Billings