Knight Riders on Tuesday (16 August) announced the first 14 players of the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (ADKR) squad for the UAE’s International League T20 (ILT20). The franchise, owned by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, signed West Indies all-rounders Sunil Narine and Andre Russell, who turned out for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Apart from them, he also signed out England batsman Jonny Bairstow, West Indies players Akil Hossein, Ravi Rampaul and Ramon Reifer.
“First of all it is great to see that our global footprint continues to grow in line with our vision and strategy. KKR in IPL, TKR in CPL and now ADKR in ILT20,” Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore said in a statement.
“It is also great that we have our mainstays as part of ADKR – Sunil Narine and Andre Russell. We are really happy that Jonny Bairstow has joined the Knight Riders family and will undoubtedly play a big part in ADKR’s journey in ILT20. We are also happy that Akeel Hossein, Ravi Rampaul, Ali Khan, Colin Ingram and Seekuge Prasanna, who have previously been part of Trinbago Knight Riders, are also part of ADKR.
#ADKR Squad Announcement:
Meet the Knights for the Inauguration #ILT20 weather #night riders@ILT20Official @amirat cricket pic.twitter.com/rOdAub8LYJ— Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (@ADKRiders) 16 August 2022
Paul Sterling, Charith Aslanka, Kenner Lewis, Lahiru Kumara, Ramon Reifer and Brandon Glover are most welcome to the Knight Riders family. ILT20 promises to be an exciting tournament and we are looking forward to very competitive games and a lot of entertainment,” Mysore said.
ADKR Team for 2023 ILT20: Sunil Narine (Trinidad and Tobago/West Indies), Andre Russell (Jamaica/West Indies), Jonny Bairstow (England), Paul Stirling (Ireland), Lahiru Kumara (Sri Lanka), Charit Aslanka (Sri Lanka), Colin Ingram (South Africa), Aqeel Hossein (Trinidad and Tobago/West Indies), Seekkuge Prasanna (Sri Lanka), Ravi Rampaul (Trinidad and Tobago/West Indies), Ramon Reifer (Barbados/West Indies), Kenner Lewis (Jamaica/West Indies), Ali Khan (USA), Brandon Glover (Netherlands)
Narine has been out in 148 IPL matches In his career, he scored 1,025 runs at a strike rate of 162.7 and took 152 wickets. Whereas Andre Russell has 98 IPL matches, scoring 2,035 runs at a strike-rate of 177.8 and has also taken 89 wickets.