The 11th season of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will kick off in just one week, and we are eagerly anticipating it. T20 leagues have exploded in 2023 like never before. The CPL will start this month’s third league in total. But having West Indian superstars there will give it a big advantage over other leagues.
There has been a lot of player movement between teams. Here are some of the well-known figures trapped in that situation
Rovman Powell (Barbados Royals)
Rovman Powell, the current captain of the national team in the shortest format, was traded from the Tallawahs to the Barbados Royals, which may have been an even greater transfer than Bravo’s. This comes after helping them win their third championship the season before. Since making his team debut in 2016, the Jamaican has scored 1337 runs.
Powell will be expected to carry the most of the batting responsibilities in a squad full of all-rounders because of his impressive hitting performance in the home series against India. David Miller, who capably guided them to the top of the league standings, will relinquish the captaincy to him.
He will have his work cut out for him while coaching a Royals team that is largely inexperienced and youthful. Can he make history by winning the CPL twice in a row?
Ambati Rayudu (St Kitts and Nevis Patriots)
Ambati Rayudu will soon become the first Indian international to play in the CPL, giving the roster a final Indian touch. Dewald Brevis pulled out of the season, thus the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots signed him as their star player.
The veteran from Telangana had been scheduled to play for the Texas Super Kings in the MLC, but he withdrew due to concerns that the BCCI would impose a one-year cooling-off period before retired Indian players can take part in foreign franchise tournaments.
He won’t be the only Indian at the Patriots’ facility; Malolan Rangarajan has been hired as the team’s head coach for the 2017 campaign. He will join Pravin Tambe and Shreyanka Patil as the only other two Indians to play for a CPL team.
Dwayne Bravo (Trinbago Knight Riders)
Dwayne Bravo returns to Trinidad and Tobago after two seasons with the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots. He stated he desired “newer challenges” while announcing the transfer in 2021, according to himself. In his first season with the Patriots, he managed to defeat them by guiding them to their first championship.
Returning to Trinbago Knight Riders, he will team up with players like Andre Russell, Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, and Sunil Narine to form what is perhaps the strongest domestic core in the whole world.
Last season, TKR finished last in the standings with just three victories in ten games. The club and their supporters will be hopeful that Bravo’s experience would help the team improve its fortunes.
