Mike Hussey, Welsh Fire’s new men’s mentor, has conceded that marking Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf in last week’s Hundred draft was a “bet” because of vulnerability over their accessibility, however one he accepts could have “an enormous result”.
The restricted accessibility of abroad players has been a steady issue across Hundred’s first two seasons, owing to clashes with bilateral series and the Caribbean Premier League. Most groups answered by focusing on accessibility over star power in Thursday’s draft, with Babar Azam, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell all going unselected thus.
Be that as it may, Fire, who got Hussey as a substitution for Gary Kirsten after a winless 2022 season, thought outside the box in marking two of the world’s driving white-ball bowlers for a joined £160,000, in spite of an absence of clearness over Pakistan’s apparatus list in August, when the Hundred will be played.
Fire will play their initial match on August 2, away at Manchester Firsts, and Hussey expects Shaheen and Rauf will be accessible for seven of their eight gathering games. Pakistan are because of finish a two-Test series in Sri Lanka in late July, and have a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan made plans for late August, driving into the Asia Cup and afterward the World Cup.
“We’ve been informed that they’re accessible up to about the twentieth,” Hussey told ESPNcricinfo and the Press Affiliation. “I feel that is around seven games, and quite possibly’s the series they have against Afghanistan might be canceled also. It’s somewhat of a bet, however assuming that that is the situation, it’d be an enormous win for us to have them for the entire season, which might work out great for us.
“They are large stars, and they’re match-victors also. The initial seven games is a fair lump of the competition. On the off chance that they can come in and have an immense effect and dominate us a couple matches, and get us straight up there, then that will assist with building some certainty and conviction. And afterward there’s still a few quality entertainers out there that we can draw in as reasonable substitutions.
“The gamble is, we know we’ve got them for seven games at this stage, but it could also be the whole tournament which would be a huge pay-off for us. Obviously they are both world-class performers and have performed on the biggest stage in the past, so hopefully they can have a big impact for us.”
The pair have played together extensively for Pakistan, and have also been integral parts of Lahore Qalandars’ back-to-back PSL titles over the last two seasons, revitalising a struggling franchise in a way that Hussey hopes they can repeat in Cardiff.
“It’s great that we’ve got them as a pair,” he added, “so they’ve got a bit of camaraderie off the field and both have a buddy there as well. I think that’s going to hopefully help them settle in nicely.”
