Two Chinese cricketers will join the Peshawar Zalmi camp for the ongoing edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in the UAE.
The Chinese national team players had been recruited by the PSL franchise in August last year in a bid to promote cricket in the word’s most populated country.
Yufie Zhang and Jian Li will join the Peshawar outfit’s training camp at the Dubai International Cricket stadium before traveling with the team for Thursday’s PSL fixture against the Quetta Gladiators at Sharjah.
“We will provide them a platform to recognise their talent and motivate them to achieve international recognition,” Peshawar Zalmi’s China representative Amir Suhail was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
Pakistan has played an active role in promoting cricket in China.
The two are the first Chinese cricketers to be recruited by a PSL franchise. China had become an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2004 though they did not make their competitive international debut until 2009 in the Asia Cricket Council (ACC) Challenge Trophy.
China made news last year when they were all-out for the second lowest ODI score in history (28) against Saudi Arabia in the World Cricket League (WCL) regional qualifier. They subsequently lost the match by 390 runs.