Hales will play for Barbados Tridents. © Getty

Alex Hales, Lasith Malinga and Isuru Udana were the big picks in the 2019 Caribbean Premier League draft, with the trio earning 160,000 each in the first round. Barbados Tridents bought Hales, with Malinga and Udana being snapped up by St Lucia Stars and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots respectively.

Meanwhile, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo, the Caribbean stars, were retained by Jamaica Tallawahs and Trinbago Knight Riders respectively. Knight Riders also opted to retain the likes of Sunil Narine, Colin Munro, Denesh Ramdin and Khary Pierre, while also managing to retain most of the core team from 2018.

The Trinidad franchise bolstered their bench-strength by picking up Jimmy Neesham, the pace-bowling all-rounder, and Mohammad Hasnain, the fast bowler, who bagged 12 scalps at under 20 in the PSL 2019. The draft also saw the mystery spinner Mark Deyal being picked up by the Knight Riders. The all-rounder is known for spinning it both ways with his knuckles. He has also played for Winnipeg Hawks in the Global T20 Canada.

Shadab Khan, the Pakistan all-rounder, who played a key role in Knight Riders' tile triumph in 2017 with 12 scalps, will now represent Guyana Amazon Warriors. Shadab is expected to cover up for Rashid Khan's absence who is scheduled to play in the Euro T20 slam as a marquee player. The New Zealand pair of Brendon McCullum alongside the hard-hitting Chris Lynn have also decided to take part in the Euro T20 slam. The T20 tournament that will start from August 30 this year will clash with the CPL.

On the other hand, Kieron Pollard, the big-hitting all-rounder, has shifted his base to Knight Riders from St Lucia Stars. Pollard had led St Lucia Stars in the CPL 2018, with the franchise finishing a lowly fifth. Stars, meanwhile, picked up Fawad Ahmed, the legspinner. The veteran spinner, who replaced Shadab at Knight Riders last season, was the highest wicket-taker in the CPL 2018 with 22 scalps. Sri Lanka's wicketkeeper-batsman Niorshan Dickwella, who was left out of the squad for the World Cup, was also picked up by Stars.

Nicholas Pooran, the enterprising wicketkeeper-batsman, who represented the Tridents in CPL 2018, was snapped up by Amazon Warriors. Amazon Warriors, on their part, have retained Sherfane Rutherford and Keemo Paul. Chris Gayle, who led St Kitts and Nevis Patriots to a creditable third place last season, has returned to Tallawahs as their marquee cricketer. Jason Holder, the West Indies captain, is the marquee player for Tridents.

There were other notable transfers, with Tridents picking up the former Patriots and Nepal legspinner, Sandeep Lamichhane. The Tridents retained Wahab Riaz, and picked up Dominic Drakes, son of Vasbert Drakes, the former West Indies fast bowler. Guyana Amazon Warriors retained both their big hitters in Sherfane Rutherford and Keemo Paul.

USA batsman Steven Taylor, who was a part of the CPL since 2015, missed out, while Nitish Kumar (Canada) was the only other North American player picked to play for St Lucia Stars. He played for them in 2016 as well. Other than Ali Khan, four USA representatives featured in the draft: USA captain Saurabh Netravalkar (Guyana Amazon Warriors), Xavier Marshall (Jamaica Tallawahs), Aaron Jones (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots) and Hayden Walsh Jr (Barbados Tridents).