Internet Desk: Brendon McCullum, AB De Villiers and Martin Guptill hogged the limelight at the Caribbean Premier League ( CPL) draft held at Barbados last night .
Both McCullum and Guptill fetched a whopping sum of US$1,30,000 , while De Villiers was roped in Barbados Tridents for the same amount .
McCullum will play for the Trinbago Knight Riders while Guptill will don Guyana Amazon Warriors jersey .The opening round of the CPL draft was dominated by local stars Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo who both got US$160,000 .
Brendon McCullum said he’s eager for his Carribean Premier League debut after he and fellow Black Caps star opener Martin Guptill scored lucrative deals as marquee players at the 2016 auction in Barbados on Friday.
The four other marquee overseas players were the Proteas duo AB de Villiers (Barbados Tridents) and Faf du Plessis (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots), Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (Jamaica Tallawahs), and Australian star all-rounder Shane Watson (St. Lucia Zouks).
Black Caps Colin Munro (NZ$45,000) and Anton Devcich ($NZ22,500) were also picked up Trinbago Knight Riders .
Vijay Mallya, who owns the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchisee in the IPL also have a stake in the Barbados Tridents.
South African One-day opener Hashim Amla was also picked by the Trinidad franchisee.
Baz , who will be retiring after the ongoing series against Australia will be seen in action in different cash rich T20 leagues all over the world . He has already signed for the Indian Premier League, England’s domestic T20 championship and Australia’s Big Bash. He will be making his debut in the CPL .
The CPL will have six of it’s matches staged in the United States as cricket looks to increase its presence in the demanding American sporting market after a successful All Stars T20 league last year November. The CPL starts in late July.
“I’m super excited to be featuring in this edition of the 2016 CPL. It’s really special to be playing in the Caribbean; the fan engagement and carnival atmosphere is something I’ve heard a lot from a lot of players around the world,” McCullum said.
Meanwhile, McCullum did not have a great start in his 100th consecutive test match. He scored a duck against the Aussies In the first innings of the Wellington Test.