Melbourne club wants Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle to play T20 in Australian summer; list of cricketers approached

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Melbourne, June 27: If reports are to be believed then, former India star all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, South Africa batting legend AB de Villiers and West Indies great Chris Gayle could be seen playing for a Melbourne-based cricket club in the upcoming Australian summer.

The Mulgrave Cricket Club has claimed that it is very close to inking a deal with Yuvraj Singh and Chris Gayle for its T20 games this summer. The club, that plays in Melbourne's Eastern Cricket Association (ECA) third-tier competition, said it is also in talks with West Indies legend Brian Lara and South Africa great AB de Villiers to join them.

All these names are big crowd pullers and if these star cricketers do agree to play for the club then it will give a massive boost to the club and help in its expansion and reach across various countries.

Mulgrave have already secured the services of Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga for the summer with Sanath Jayasuriya as their head coach. Mulgrave president Milan Pullenayegam said talks are on with former India all-rounder Yuvraj and West Indian Gayle.

"We've secured Dilshan, we've secured Sanath, we've secured Tharanga. And now we are working on finalising agreements with a few other potential players," Pullenayegam told 'cricket.com.au'.

"We are in negotiations, and with Chris (Gayle) and Yuvraj, we are nearly 85 to 90 per cent there. We need to finalise a few things but it looks really good."

The two cricketers are, however, yet to comment on the negotiation. The president added the club is trying to rope in more sponsors to sign the big stars. "We've got a good backing at the moment that will get us across the line, but we don't want to be just breaking even on it, we want to be able to give back the community and expand the structure of the club.

"It's a process, with these big-name players there's a lot of things we need to incorporate into their visits to Australia: we'll provide them with accommodation, their travel, food etcetera, there is a lot of background stuff we need to organise for them.

"While here we want to put them in contact with our sponsors and see if they can give something back to the club and sponsors. So it's all part of the negotiations and chats we are having with them." The ECA's T20 Cup will feature 3 preliminary matches before a knock-out phase of up to three more games between November and February. The website also reported any international player is likely to play only one or two games.

(With PTI inputs)