No takers for Tymal Mills in the 2017 CPL draft; Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi picked

What’s the story

There were no takers for Royal Challengers Bangalore pacer Tymal Mills in the 2017 Carribean Premier League (CPL) draft. Along with Mills, New Zealand’s T20 specialist Corey Anderson also failed to attract a franchise to pick him ahead of the 2017 edition. Some of the other big names that were failed to be picked in the draft are Kiwi all-rounder Jimmy Neesham, Pakistan Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and leg-spinner Yasir Shah.

Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, who took 5-3 against Ireland in Greater Noida last night, was snapped up by Guyana Amazon Warriors for USD 60,000 while his teammate Mohammad Nabi will represent St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots after he was taken for USD 90,000.

Full list of players from CPL Player Draft 2017 #CPL17 #CPLDraft pic.twitter.com/AMzWDtFSFh

— CPL T20 (@CPL) March 10, 2017

Extra cover: Afghanistan's Rashid Khan picks up the fastest five-wicket haul of all time

In case you didn't know...

As many as 258 cricketers from all over the world were a part of the draft in which all the six CPL franchises picked a total of 103 players. Each franchise had a total budget of USD 750,000 to spend including the players they have retained in the draft. Before the draft, it was also made mandatory for all the teams to have a young West Indian emerging player and a representative from the ICC Americas in their squad.

Each round of the draft featured players of a particular price bracket with teams taking turns in order to pick a player and fill that bracket in their squad. There were a total of 17 rounds in the 2017 CPL draft.

The heart of the matter

In the early rounds of the draft, only Lendl Simmons (Jamaica Tallawahs), Ben Cutting (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots), Chadwick Walton (Guyana Amazon Warriors) and Nabi (Patriots) were picked up as the franchises decided to retain their own players in the top price brackets to keep the core of the team intact.

The players who were picked/retained in the first round (Kieron Pollard, Sohail Tanvir, Simmons, David Miller, Dwayne Bravo and Chris Gayle) will earn USD 160,000. Swashbuckling opening batsman Gayle, who was a part of Jamaica Tallawahs last season, opted to move out of his home team in search of new challenge and joined the perennially under-achievers St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots.

Let us take a look at the look at the list of players sought by each team in the 2016 CPL draft.

Barbados Tridents: Kieron Pollard, Kane Williamson (marquee), Shoaib Malik, Dwayne Smith, Nicholas Pooran, Wayne Parnell, Ravi Rampaul, Wahab Riaz, Raymon Reifer, Christopher Barnwell, Imran Khan, Damian Jacobs, Akeal Hossain, Ryan Wiggins, Tino Best, Shamar Springer**, Akeem Dolton*

Guyana Amazon Warriors: Sohail Tanvir, Martin Guptill (marquee), Chadwick Walton, Chris Lynn, Rayad Emrit, Rashid Khan, Jason Mohammed, Steven Taylor, Veerasammy Permaul, Roshan Primus, Gajanand Singh, Assad Fudadin, Keon Joseph, Steven Jacobs, Steven Katwaroo, Shimron Hetmeyr**, Ali Khan*

Jamaica Tallawahs: Lendl Simmons, Kumar Sangakkara (marquee), Shakib Al Hasan, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Sami, Rovman Powell, Gidron Pope, Keserick Williams, Garey Mathurin, Jon-Russ Jaggesar, Krishmar Santokie, Jonathan Foo, Kennar Lewis, Andre McCarthy, Odean Smith, Oshane Thomas**, Timroy Allen*

St. Lucia Stars: David Miller, Lasith Malinga (marquee), Shane Watson, Darren Sammy, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Jerome Taylor, Marlon Samuels, Kamran Akmal, Rahkeem Cornwall, Kyle Mayers, Shane Shillingford, Eddie Leie, Keddy Lesporis, Sunil Ambris, Obed Mccoy**, Timil Patel*

Trinbago Knight Riders: Dwayne Bravo, Brendon McCullum (marquee), Sunil Narine, Hashim Amla, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Colin Munro, Shadab Khan, Khary Pierre, Ronsford Beaton, Javon Searles, Nikita Miller, William Perkins, Kevon Cooper, Brad Hogg, Anderson Phillip**, Hamza Tariq*

St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots: Chris Gayle, Chris Morris (marquee), Ben Cutting, Mohammad Nabi, Evin Lewis, Samuel Badree, Jonathan Carter, Tabraiz Shamsi, Brandon King, Devon Thomas, Sheldon Cotrell, Kieron Powell, Fabian Allen, Shamarh Brooks, Jeremiah Louis, Alzarri Joseph**, Nikhil Dutta*

*represents American cricketers. **represents under-19 cricketers.

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Sportskeeda’s take

It is good to see the CPL franchises deciding to retain the core of their team in the 2017 CPL draft. At the same time, it is surprising to see England’s T20 specialist Tymal Mills, who was bought by RCB for 12 million INR in the 2017 IPL auction, failing to fetch takers. Yet again, the franchises have done a good job because the left-arm pacer might not be available throughout the tournament that begins on August 1 as he is scheduled to play in the Natwest T20 blast that will be played alongside the CPL.