The draft for the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2016 was held in Barbados on Thursday, and the six franchises flexed their financial muscles to rope in their desired cricketers for the T20 extravaganza.
AB de Villiers was picked up by the Barbados Tridents for the new season of the CPL. De Villiers has never featured in the CPL before, but will make his tournament debut, playing for the side co-owned by Vijay Mallya, who also owns RCB, the South African's IPL team.
"Barbados is one of the most beautiful places in the world, and I am honoured to have been invited to join the Tridents," De Villiers told CPL's official website.
"Vijay Mallya, chairman of Royal Challengers Bangalore, my team in the Indian Premier League, has recently secured an interest in the Tridents and I am very much looking forward to joining forces with him in another part of the world."
David Miller and Lendl Simmons were the costliest buys in the CPL 2016 players' draft. Each of them bagged $160,000 contracts from St. Lucia Zouks and St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots. It was surprising, as Miller and Simmons fetched more money than names like De Villiers, Kumar Sangakkara, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson and Martin Guptill.
There were six overseas marquee players and here are the teams who picked them up:
AB de Villiers - Barbados Tridents ($130,000).
Martin Guptill - Guyana Amazon Warriors ($130,000).
Brendon McCullum - Trinbago Knight Riders ($130,000).
Shane Watson - St. Lucia Zouks ($130,000).
Kumar Sangakkara - Jamaica Tallawahs ($130,000).
Faf du Plessis - St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots ($130,000).
Big Bash League star Chris Lynn, who played for the Tallawahs last season, will now play for the Warriors. Fellow Australian Adam Zampa will also join Lynn in the Warriors side.
Shahid Afridi, Misbah-Ul-Haq, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Johan Botha were unsold in the CPL 2016 players' draft.
Here are the squads:
Barbados Tridents: Kieron Pollard, AB de Villiers, Shoaib Malik, Nicolas Pooran, Ravi Rampaul, David Wiese, Robin Peterson, Raymon Reifer, Ashley Nurse, Wayne Parnell, Akeal Hosein, Imran Khan, Kyle Hope, Navin Stewart, Kyle Corbin, Steven Taylor.
Trinbago Knight Riders: Dwayne Bravo, Brendon McCullum, Sunil Narine, Hashim Amla, Umar Akmal, Kevon Cooper, Sulieman Benn, Colin Munro, Anton Devcich, Ronsford Beaton, Nikita Miller, Javon Searles, William Perkins, Yannick Cariah, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Hamza Tariq.
Jamaica Tallawahs: Chris Gayle, Kumar Sangakkara, Shakib Al Hasan, Andre Russell, Imad Wasim, Lasith Malinga, Rovman Powell, Chadwick Walton, Jon-Russ Jaggesar, Andre McCarthy, Jonathan Foo, Alex Ross, Kesrick Williams, Nkrumah Bonner, Garey Mathurin, Timroy Allen.
Guyana Amazon Warriors: Sohail Tanvir, Martin Guptill, Dwayne Smith, Chris Lynn, Rayad Emrit, Adam Zampa, Jason Mohammed, Christopher Barnwell, Veerasammy Permaul, Orlando Peters, Assad Fudadin, Anthony Bramble, Paul Wintz, Steven Jacobs, Steven Katwaroo, Ali Khan.
St Lucia Zouks: David Miller, Shane Watson, Darren Sammy, Michael Hussey, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Morne Morkel, Fidel Edwards, Derone Davis, Eddie Leie, Keron Cottoy, Shane Shillingford, Delorn Johnson, Kyle Mayers, Keddy Lesporis, Nitish Kumar.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots: Lendl Simmons, Faf du Plessis, Samuel Badree, Brad Hodge, Thisara Perera, Jonathan Carter, Krishmar Santokie, Evin Lewis, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kieran Powell, JJ Smuts, Devon Thomas, Shamarh Brooks, Tino Best, Jeremiah Louis, Nikhil Dutta.
