IPL 2018 Player Auction: Fat paychecks await Gayle, Pollard and 34 West Indies stars

Mumbai: West Indies is the go-to place when it comes to picking up the best T20 players. Over the years, the Caribbean side has cemented its reputation as one of the most threatening teams in the shortest format of the game.

The Windies boast of explosive hard-hitting batsmen and quality all-round bowlers. Since the inception of the Indian Premier League (IPL), many West Indian bowlers have gone on to grace the cash-rich league.

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And with the IPL Player Auction set to return on January 27th and January 28th, the spotlight will once again fall on the West Indian cricketers and it will be intriguing to see how many big bucks follow them.

578 players have been swept into the auction pool and there is a possibility of witnessing 36 Caribbean players in the tournament and 34 will be a part of the auction, which 218 foreign entrants alongside 360 capped and uncapped Indian cricketers.

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The list will be led by the self-proclaimed ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle, a living legend in T20 cricket.

The swashbuckling left-hander is the highest scorer in T20s with 11,000 runs in the game, with no other batsman having surpassed even the 9000 run mark.

Since the inception of the league, Gayle has spent thrilling eight years with Royal Challengers Bangalore, but a dip in recent form prompted RCB not to retain one of their star players. Joining Gayle will be Mumbai Indians powerhouse Kieron Pollard, who was left out by three-time winners Mumbai Indians instead of Hardik Pandya.

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The likes of Dwayne Bravo, Carlos Brathwaite, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith, Samuel Badree Test skipper Jason Holder and opener Evin Lewis, are the other exciting names that will go under the hammer.

Only two Windies players were retained previously, both coming from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the form of Sunil Narine and Andre Russell, who have emerged as a vital cog for the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned side.

Here is a list of few West Indies players who are all set earn heavy paychecks in the upcoming IPL auction.

1) Carlos Brathwaite

2) Samuel Badree

3) Jofra Archer

4) Evin Lewis

5) Lendl Simmons

6) Johnson Charles

7) Nicolas Pooran

8) Chadwick Walton

9) Darren Bravo

10)  Rovman Powell

11) Dinesh Ramdin

12) Andre Fletcher

13) Jason Holder

14) Dwayne Smith

15) Sheldon Cottrell

16) Kyle Mayers

17) Oshane Thomas

18) Jonathan Carter

19) Rayad Emrit

20) Ronsford Beaton

21) Shannon Gabriel

22) Kesrick Williams

23) Kevon Cooper

24) Ashley Nurse

25) Darren Sammy

26) Marlon Samuels

27) Jerome Taylor

28) Roshon Primus

29) Odean Smith

30) Shamar Springer

31) Javon Searless

32) Chris Gayle

33) Kieron Pollard

34) Dwayne Bravo