David Willey, an England left-arm quickie withdrawn from the BBL draft of Sydney Thunders. Andrew Gilchrist team manager of Sydney Thunders has given a statement, “Fazalhaq Farooqi is an emerging talent,” "He joins Thunder in great form after playing exceptional cricket in the World T20 Cup and the Asia Cup tournament.
"While it was very disappointing to have lost David Willey, it has opened the door for Farooqi to further enhance his reputation and growing status in world cricket.
"Afghanistan has enjoyed a tremendous representation in the BBL over the years. Rashid Khan has been embraced by Adelaide Strikers fans as a genuine superstar and adopted South Australian, while others, including Zahir Khan, Noor Ahmad and Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Qais Ahmad have made their marks.
“We fully expect Fazalhaq will only further enhance the growing reputation of cricketers from Afghanistan being fearless cricketers and extraordinary entertainers.”
Sydney Thunder squad
Ben Cutting, Ollie Davies, Brendan Doggett, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Alex Hales, Baxter Holt, Nathan McAndrew, Alex Ross, Rilee Rossouw, Daniel Sams, Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha, David Warner.