Guptill, Simmons bags highest bid in CPL 2018 auction

Openers from New Zealand and Windies, Martin Guptill and Lendl Simmons bagged highest bids at the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) auctions.  Barbados Tridents and St Lucia Stars roped the services of the star all-rounder in the first rounds of the auction.

Meanwhile, the likes of Sohail Tanvir, Andre Russell, Chris Gayle, and Dwayne Bravo retained their spot with the previous franchise.

Further, legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane who got an IPL team was also roped in by St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. Also, he became the first player from Nepal to play in CPL. Among all, all-rounder Kieron Pollard was the biggest earner. He asked Jamaica Tallawahs to leave him after leading them for the past four seasons. Meanwhile, St Lucia Stars availed his services for USD 130,000.

Guptill and Simmons biggest pick:

While the retained players bagged USD 160,000, Guptill got USD 90,000 by St Lucia Stars. Stars are looking to build a strong squad following their poor performance last year. Meanwhile, the swashbuckling opener, Simmons got USD 70,000.

With each of the six teams expected to have 18-member squads, 47 were picked from the drafts while 61 were already retained.

Meanwhile, marquee players like Shahid Afridi (Jamaica Tallawahs), Shoaib Malik (Guyana Amazon Warriors), Evin Lewis (St Kitts and Nevis Patriots) and Chris Lynn (Trinbago Knight Riders) directly negotiated with the respective franchises and did not enter the draft process.

However, the English trio of Alex Hales, Tymal Mills, and Adil Rashid went unsold in the auction. This is mainly due to the clash of schedules between CPL 2018 and NatWest T20 Blast.

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