The Hundred: Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan becomes first player to be selected in tournament draft, West Indies legend Chris Gayle misses out

London: Afghanistan star Rashid Khan became the first player selected in The Hundred draft, but West Indies legend Chris Gayle wasn’t selected for next year’s tournament. [caption id=“attachment_6859801” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Rashid Khan. Reuters[/caption] Rashid has enjoyed a superb start to his international career, with 81 wickets at 12.03 in T20 making him ideal for the new eight-team UK-based competition featuring 100 balls per innings. The 21-year-old spinner was made the first overall pick by the Trent Rockets on Sunday. West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell went next to the Southern Brave, with Australia batsman Aaron Finch third to the Leeds-based Northern Superchargers as the first-round picks came thick and fast. Gayle was not among them and, with players not eligible to be selected if they failed to make their allotted price point, the 37-year-old will be absent from the competition. Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga and South African paceman Kagiso Rabada were also unpicked. The majority of England’s one-day international players had already been allocated to teams before the draft. Each team had two picks in the first round, except the Phoenix, Spirit and Oval Invincibles who had allocated the second spots in the £125,000 price band to “local icon” players.   The Welsh Fire selected Australia duo Mitchell Starc and Steve Smith, with the Invincibles adding West Indies spinner Sunil Narine to the pre-selected Jason Roy. The Manchester Originals pair South Africa spinner Imran Tahir with Dane Vilas, already a successful T20 Blast overseas player for Lancashire. All-rounders Glenn Maxwell (London Spirit) and Liam Livingstone (Birmingham Phoenix) completed the first selections, accompanying ‘icon’ picks Eoin Morgan and Moeen Ali respectively. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was the highest-profile name taken in round two, heading to Birmingham, while the Spirit paired Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi and Pakistan paceman Mohammad Amir. Round three started with two overseas picks, Australia bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile to the Rockets and Pakistan’s Shadab Khan to the Brave.