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Afridi, Razzaq join Melbourne Renegades

KARACHI: Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi and all-rounder Abdul Razzaq will be the Melbourne Renegades for the first season of the Twenty20 Big Bash League. Afridi and Razzaq take the Renegades signings to 16, which include Victorian great Brad Hodge, rising batting stars Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell, plus fellow Bushrangers Andrew McDonald, Shane Harwood, Michael Hill, Ryan Carters, Will Sheridan and Jayde Herrick. The Big Bash will be owned and controlled by Cricket Australia (CA) and is set to take off in mid-December this year. The domestic league will feature city-based teams rather than state based. According to rules set out by CA, each team will be allowed to pick four international players in the squad. The Pakistani duo, Afridi and Razzaq were recently finalized by James Brayshaw, the chairman for the Melbourne Renegade, who is also heading the Melbourne Football Club. As part of the Melbourne Renegades, Razzaq will be making his debut performance in Australian domestic cricket. However, for Afridi, the ‘Boom Boom’ khan has already made a premiere in the previous Big Bash season in 2009-10 as part of the Adelaide squad.