By Samuel Peters
West Indies, Leeward Islands and national cricketer Alzarri Joseph has been drafted by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Antiguan’s selection came following an initial tug-of-war between Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow SuperGiants and RCB with Joseph being swooped up for Rs 11.50 crore (US $1,382,665.70).
Joseph made his IPL debut in 2019 and has taken 20 wickets in 19 matches, including a career best 6-12 for the Mumbai Indians. Last season, Joseph played for the Gujarat Titans who won the title in 2022 and were runners-up in 2023.
However, the top drafts of the Indian Premier League Draft were World Cup Winners Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins who were drafted for a whopping 2.98 million and 2.47 million, respectively.
Moreover, the highest earning West Indian players drafted are wicketkeeper batsman Nicholas Pooran and the hard hitting all-rounder Andre Russell.
They both were retained for 1600 laks which is equivalent to $1.9 million; Pooran was drafted by the Lucknow SuperGiants while Andre Russel by the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Rajasthan Royals retained former West Indies Under-19 Captain, Shimron Hetmeyer for 850 laks ($1,024,000.00) while West Indies T20 Captain was retained for 740 laks ($891,000).
Sunil Narine, who recently retired from international cricket, was retained for $722,000 by Kolkota Knight Riders.
West Indies batting allrounder, Shurfane Rutherford was retained by Rajasthan Royals for $181,000, wicket keeper/ batsman Shai Hope was bought by Delhi Capitals for $90,000 and Kyle Mayers was drafted for $60,000.
The three West Indians that went unsold are Odean Smith, Kemo Paul and Akeal Hosein.