Russell, Gayle and Shakib among marquee names drafted at GT20

Andre Russell, Chris Gayle, Shakib al Hasan and Mohammad Rizwan are among some of the most prominent players drafted in for the third edition of the Global T20 Canada. The league, which returns for the first time in four seasons, will be played between July 20 and August 6 in Ontario.

The league has gone through something of a revamp since its last edition. Winnipeg Hawks, who won the league last time it was held, no longer take part, while Edmonton Royals are also absent. Their place is taken by Surrey Jaguars and Mississauga Panthers. Each side will include two marquee players and three Canadian players from the national side, as well as three emerging Canadian players, with 25 matches to be played across the 18 days.

This means there will be two high-profile North American T20 franchise-based leagues this summer, after dates for the inaugural season of Major League Cricket, set to be played in Texas in July, were announced last month.

The GT20's return adds further strain on a cricketing calendar already groaning under the weight of several T20 leagues. It will clash with Pakistan's two-Test series against Sri Lanka in July, with 14 Pakistan players picked up across the six franchises. The PCB has insisted that players chosen for the Test series will not go to the GC20.

The first two seasons took place in 2018 and 2019, but following payment disputes and the Covid pandemic, a third edition wasn't held in the next three years.

Squads [select players]:

Surrey Jaguars: Alex Hales, Iftikhar Ahmed, Jason Behrendorff, Liton Das, Karim Janat, Mohammad Haris, Sandeep Lamichane

Mississauga Panthers: Shoaib Malik, Chris Gayle, Azam Khan, James Neesham, Cameron Delport, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tom Cooper

Brampton Wolves: Harbhajan Singh, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee, Mark Chapman, Usama Mir, Hussain Talat, Usman Khan, Logan van Beek, Jan Nocolas Frylinck, Max O'Dowd

Vancouver Knights: Mohammad Rizwan, Rassie van der Dussen, Naveen ul Haq, Reeze Hendricks, Corbin Bosch, Najibullah Zadran, Kartik Meiyappam, Ruben Trumpelmann

Montreal Tigers: Shakib al Hasan, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Sherfane Rutherford, Carlos Brathwaite, Abbas Afridi, Zahir Khan

Toronto Nationals: Colin Munro, Shahid Afridi, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Zaman Khan, Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Gerhard Erasmus