Global T20 Canada 2018: 5 players to watch out for

Global T20 Canada 2018 is a domestic T20 tournament starting on 28 June 2018. The event follows a league-format similar to the Indian Premier League, Big Bash League and the Caribbean Premier League.

Six teams will take part in the Global T20 Canada, and a player-draft was conducted on June 3rd, 2018, for the teams to form their respective squads. Ahead of the draft, international players of big reputes like Shahid Afridi, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, David Miller, Chris Lynn were named as marquee players. Around 1600 players registered for the draft in total, with almost 600 of them being natives of Canada itself.

Let us take a look into 5 key players who will be key to the overall performance of their teams as well as for the publicity of the entire league.

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Steve Smith

Troubled times seem unending for the former Australian captain, ever since he had been caught in association with the ball-tampering fiasco that took place when his team toured South Africa in late March this year.

Smith has been suspended from playing international cricket for a year by Cricket Australia and was also relieved of his captaincy duties. As a result, he wasn't allowed to take part in IPL 2018 for Rajasthan Royals. Smith has been more or less absent from all forms of cricket in the past four months.

On 3 June, Smith was announced as one of the marquee players who would feature in the inaugural edition of Global T20 Canada. He was eventually snapped up by Toronto Nationals, who will have Phil Simmons as coach. Darren Sammy and Kieron Pollard are two other key players in the side.

As Smith takes a trial at a shot on redemption, it is important that he excels in the tournament. A top-order batsman who can bowl part-time leg-spin, Smith's talent and skill will be required by the Toronto Nationals if they intend to make it big.

His performance in the league may also have an effect on his immediate future, like the cricket leagues where he may be expected to show up as a player. He is expected to make an international comeback prior to the 2019 Cricket World Cup, and the GT20 is one of the few chances that he will have to impress the selectors and make it back to the Aussie squad.

Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle in the recently conducted Windies vs WorldXI T20I fixture

Any list which talks about "key players" in a T20 game, is incomplete without the inclusion of the burly Windies opener, who has been widely regarded as the epitome of T20 batting ever since the format's inception more than a decade ago. Twenty20 cricket has since picked Chris Gayle as its ambassador, owing to the fact that he owns almost every batting record in the format, including that of the most runs, most hundreds, fastest hundred, highest individual score, and most fours and sixes.

Chris Gayle recently took part in IPL 2018 after being bought for INR 2 Crore. This was after his former team, the Royal Challengers Bangalore decided that he was surplus to requirements, thereby deciding not to retain him. He went unsold for a surprisingly long period of time before Kings XI secured his signature. Gayle, in turn, showed signs of his never-diminishing-lethal-ability whenever he featured for the team, scoring 368 runs from 11 games at a fantastic average of 40.88 and strike rate of 150.71, including a hundred against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

With several Windies stars also playing in the GT20 Canada, Gayle may be well aware of how to handle the opposition he would be facing. He will ply his trade for the Donovan Miller-coached-Vancouver Knights alongside the likes of Andre Russell and Tim Southee. We shouldn't be surprised if we get to see a Gayle-special, marked with the trademark bat-swipes with the balls flying for towering sixes.

Shahid Afridi

Shahid Afridi bid farewell to international cricket after playing for ICC World XI against WI

Pakistan's evergreen (excuse the pun) all-rounder has been one of the most enigmatic players that the game has ever produced. Once the holder of the record for the fastest limited-overs 100, he also holds the record for the most sixes in ODIs, most overall ducks and interestingly, the most retirements in his career. If there's a player that has drawn crowds just through explosive batting, it has to be this man - so much that his famous nickname "Boom Boom" - was more popular than his own name at one point.

Afridi believes that he is a better bowler than a batsman, and his tally of 493 limited-over-internationals wickets wouldn't say otherwise. With around 9,500 limited-over-international runs as well, Afridi was a very good all-rounder of the sport. His penchant for hitting loose shots without thinking has resulted in several premature dismissals throughout his career, which has restrained his batting numbers from looking better.

Afridi represented the Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and had featured for the Dhaka Dynamites in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) until recently. His style suits T20 cricket and was unsurprisingly named one of the marquee players in the GT20 Canada. He will play for Edmonton Royals coached by Mohammad Akram, along with the likes of Chris Lynn and Wayne Parnell.

After the game played between ICC World XI and the Windies, Afridi who played for the World XI announced his retirement from international cricket (this was his fifth time doing it). The new T20 league is an ideal venue for him to prove that there is some cricket still left in him, as he plays alongside and against some big names.

David Warner

David Warner

A top-order batsman who can blitz his way to bucketloads of runs to laying down anchor and bat in tiresome conditions, Warner carries a diverse portfolio. He also proved his captaincy skills by leading his IPL side Sunrisers Hyderabad to their maiden title in 2016.

He has continued to finish among the top-scorers in almost every series he has played, international or otherwise. He is also one of the only two players to win the IPL orange cap for leading run-getter in a season, twice, the other batsman being Matthew Hayden. He is also the fastest to score 4000 IPL runs in terms of innings and matches played.

If there is one black mark in the otherwise flawless Warner, it is his constant crossing of paths with controversy. Given the many surprises, his career has had, it would be very surprising if he doesn't return stronger.

The Australian team before the 2019 World Cup would certainly want him to, and the GT20 Canada and the subsequent Caribbean Premier League are the two opportunities he has, to make sure he is not out of Australia's cricketing plans.

He plays for the Winnipeg Hawks alongside the likes of David Miller and Dwayne Bravo. The team is coached by Waqar Younis and packs enough heat to launch Warner back to the heights from where he has fallen.

Sunil Narine

Sunil Narine in his last appearance for the Windies

Spiky Sunil no longer plays international cricket for the Windies in lieu of the differences between him and the board but that has made no dent on the potent bowler and recently-converted-opening batsman that he is. A mainstay for Kolkata Knight Riders since 2012, he was the team's chief off-spinner in the earlier seasons. These days, he is also a supremely skilled opening batsman, who has often given the KKR an explosive start which works as the right launchpad for the latter part of their innings.

Narine has more than 300 T20 wickets, at an economy rate of less than 6, which makes him an ideal bowler in those conditions. His big bag of tricks, which includes the regular offie, the carrom ball, the doosra, the knuckleball and the nifty straighter one, makes him capable of taking wickets almost every time.

It was in the past couple of years that his batting abilities have come into prominence. Narine has a career T20 strike rate of almost 150. With a remarkable ability to clear the ropes, Narine is a lethal batsman especially in the powerplay overs - as evident from the numbers in IPL 2018. Narine is also a consistent performer for the Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL.

Narine's inclusion in Tom Moody's Montreal Tigers will be yet another opportunity for him to show them what he is worth. With players like Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga and Mohammad Hafeez featuring alongside, the team has no dearth of stalwarts and could even go on to win the maiden title.