…Gayle picked up by Kings Punjab X1
IT took an eleventh-hour bid to rescue Windies star Chris Gayle from the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction block but some of his compatriots were not quite so fortunate.
This weekend’s IPL draft was not a friendly place for West Indian talent, as only four of the 23 players entering the draft found places with any of the eight teams.
Gayle was eventually picked up by the Kings Punjab XI, while Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard predictably went back to Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians respectively.
Windies T20 skipper Carlos Brathwaite went to Sunrisers Hyderabad. Another West Indian-born player, all-rounder Jofra Archer, who now resides in England, fetched a king’s ransom in signing for the Rajasthan Royals after commanding a figure of US$1,133, 624.
The players joined Andre Russell and Sunil Narine who were both retained by the Kolkata Knight Riders weeks ago.
Surprisingly there was no room for the likes of Samuel Badree, the top-ranked T20 bowler in the world in 2015 or a trio of World Cup winners in Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons and Darren Sammy.
Windies ODI and Test captain Jason Holder also found no takers as was the case for Caribbean Premier League (CPL) stars Rovman Powell and Keswick Williams.(Sportsmax.com).
