In an interesting development that has taken place in cricket recently, Namibia will play host to a quadrangular Global T20 series. The four participants for this series are Lahore Qalandars from Pakistan Super League, Bengal from Indian domestic cricket, Namibia and a team from South Africa.
Lahore Qalandars won the 2022 edition of the Pakistan Super League under the leadership of Shaheen Afridi. The left-arm fast bowler is unlikely to play in this series because of national duty but some other top names of Lahore Qalandars team might be in action.
Bengal, who recently impressed fans with their performance in Ranji Trophy 2022, have named a 16-man squad for the quadrangular series. Two current Royal Challengers Bangalore players, namely left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed and fast bowler Akash Deep have been named in the 16-man squad.
Why is RCB player Shahbaz Ahmed playing against PSL team Lahore Qalandars?
The broadcasters of this quadrangular series invited the Cricket Association of Bengal to send a team for this competition. Sharing the details, Cricket Association of Bengal’s joint secretary Debabrata Das told ESPNCricinfo:
“The broadcasters for the tournament came before our president (Avishek Dalmiya) and invited us. We took the opportunity to play six-seven games before the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (India’s domestic T20 tournament for men) because we can get to play against a World Cup team.”
India ‘A’ batter Abhimanyu Easwaran will lead the Bengal team in this series. Last year, Namibia made it to the Super 12 round of the ICC T20 World Cup and played their first-ever T20Is against big teams like the Indian cricket team and the Pakistan cricket team.
Namibia are a part of the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in Australia as well. They will be keen to work on their skills ahead of the mega event.
