The Big Bash League (BBL) is set to welcome a large number of Pakistani players this year, with more than 70 names nominated for the BBL 15 Draft. The draft will take place on June 19 in Melbourne, with the biggest group of Pakistani players ever to participate.

 

With no international matches scheduled for Pakistan during the BBL window, many top and rising stars are available. Big names like Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, and Shadab Khan are expected to be in high demand from BBL teams, considering their strong T20 performances around the world.

 

Many young and domestic players from Pakistan are also in the mix, giving BBL teams a wide range of talent to choose from.

 

This is the fourth overseas draft for the men's BBL. Each team can pick up to four overseas players, but only three can be in the playing squad at the same time. The fourth is kept as a backup.

 

Players are divided into four salary categories:

Platinum ($360k–$420k)
Gold ($300k)
Silver ($200k)
Bronze (up to $100k)

 

Teams must choose at least two overseas players and use one pick on a pre-signed international player. Clubs also have retention rights, meaning they can keep a player from last season if conditions are met.

 

This year, the Brisbane Heat have the first pick in the draft. From the third round, the order will follow a snake format.

 

In the BBL 15 Draft, a snake format will be used from the third round onwards to ensure a fair selection process for all teams. In this format, the draft order reverses with each round. For example, if Brisbane Heat picks first in the first round and last in the second, they will again pick first in the third. This means the team that picks last in one round gets to pick first in the next, preventing any single team from having an advantage throughout the draft. Brisbane Heat holds the first overall pick this year, and the snake format will help balance the selection process across the remaining rounds.

 

One of the biggest names, Babar Azam, has already been pre-signed by the Sydney Sixers. They will have to use a pick matching his salary band to officially bring him into the squad.

 

Pakistani players in the bbl draft:

 

Asif Afridi	Shaheen Shah Afridi	Abrar Ahmed	Muhammad Akhlaq
Ammad Butt	Asif Ali	Haider Ali	Hasan Ali
Muhammad Ali	Nauman Ali	Salman Ali Agha	Umar Amin
Ali Asfand	Azan Awais	Saim Ayub	Danish Aziz
Tahir Baig	Ahmed Daniyal	Sahibzada Farhan	Zafar Gohar
Mohammad Haris	Mohammad Hasnain	Mohammad Huzaifa	Muhammad Imran Jr
Aamer Jamal	Azam Khan	Haseebullah Khan	Ihsanullah Khan
Jahandad Khan	Mubasir Khan	Sajid Khan	Shadab Khan
Shahzaib Khan	Usman Khan	Yasir Khan	Zaman Khan
Irfan Khan Niazi	Shan Masood	Zahid Mehmood	Arafat Minhas
Usama Mir	Mehran Mumtaz	Sufiyan Muqeem	Khawaja Nafay
Hasan Nawaz	Rohail Nazir	Muhammad Nawaz	Usman Qadir
Momin Qamar	Haris Rauf	Ali Raza	Mohammad Rizwan
Abdul Samad	Ali Shafiq	Abdullah Shafique	Hunain Shah
Khushdil Shah	Naseem Shah	Khurram Shahzad	Mohammad Shahzad
Saud Shakeel	Hussain Talat	Usman Tariq	Siraj Uddin
Imam-ul-Haq	Ihsanullah	Imad Wasim	Muhammad Wasim
Arif Yaqoob	Zeeshan Zameer	Muhammad Zeeshan