BBL 10: Five overseas cricketers who will make their maiden Big Bash appearance

The Big Bash League (BBL) is set to take the 2020-21 edition to the next level by introducing many new rules into the playing format. The league also decided to extend the overseas limit to three players in the playing XI which was only two players until 2019-20. This change has helped the franchises sign a wide range of players across the globe. England players, in general, have been in demand through the signing process due to no cricket during the winter season back in the country.

Here we look at five players who will be featuring in the Big Bash League for the first time in 2020-21:

Danny Briggs – Adelaide Strikers:

Danny Briggs is one of the many England players who got a BBL contract due to the new overseas rules. The BBL 2020-21 will not only be the first edition for the left-arm spinner but also his maiden experience of featuring in an overseas T20 league. He has played 152 out of his 169 T20 matches in the T20 Blast only. In fact, Briggs has only played six T20 matches outside England till date, all while playing for England, England A and England Lions, all of them in the Asian subcontinent.

Rilee Rossouw – Melbourne Renegades:

Rilee Rossouw last played for South Africa back in 2016 but has been part of T20 leagues across the globe ever since. The left-handed batsman has strongly built his reputation as a T20 traveller with regular appearances in the franchise T20 leagues of Bangladesh and Pakistan. He also took up the Kolpak deal and represented Hampshire in the T20 Blast. The coming 2020-21 season of Big Bash will mark his return to Australia since the 2015 World Cup.

Nicholas Pooran – Melbourne Stars:

In case you missed it last night, Nicholas Pooran did a madness.

The 24-year-old won the game and brought up his maiden T20 ? from just 45 deliveries with a monster six!#CPL20 pic.twitter.com/810sosUtN6

— The Googly (@officialgoogly) August 31, 2020

Nicholas Pooran is slowly growing into a T20 Superstar after stints in various franchise based leagues in Asia. He has shown his potential in the CPL, T20 Blast and also in the IPL while playing alongside some of the big names of the format. Pooran will be travelling to Australia for his maiden BBL stint which could help the keeper-batsman overcome his weaknesses of taking on the hard lengths and high-end pace.

Imran Tahir – Melbourne Renegades:

Imran Tahir, known for featuring in almost all franchise-based T20 leagues across the globe, is yet to make his debut in the Big Bash League. In fact, in a career that spanned over 15 years with more than 300+ appearances, Tahir has featured in only two T20s on Australian soil; that too in 2014 during South Africa’s tour of Australia. It will be interesting to see how Tahir goes on the hard tracks of Australia.

Dawid Malan – Hobart Hurricanes:

The No.1 ranked T20I batsman, Dawid Malan will be making his Big Bash League debut in the 2020-21 season representing the Hobart Hurricanes. The England batsman is fresh of achieving the highest rating points in the history of ICC T20I rankings. Malan has smashed a century and nine fifties in the T20I format for England, all of them in just 19 innings. The experience of playing in BBL could help Malan with Australia set to host the Men’s T20 World Cup in 2022.