By Royston Alkins
The draft of the highly anticipated 2017 Hero’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) ended in great disappointment for a lot of youngsters who seek to build a T20 career and earn big dollars in the lucrative cricket league in the process.
The league, however, offered 29-year-old Gajanand Singh some measure of hope to live out his childhood dream of representing the West Indies, when he earned an 11th round selection to the Guyana Amazon Warriors team yesterday, at the players draft in Barbados.
Singh, who subsequently received a number of congratulatory messages on social media, said that he plans to give it (his selection) his heart and soul when the tournament commences.
The left-hander confessed that he was glued to his television set while the draft was going on.
“I was watching the draft actually. I was keenly posted because I have been playing some good 20/20 cricket and right now I’m very happy. I’ve been working hard and putting in all the good work,” he told Stabroek Sports yesterday.
Singh, in his last major T20 hit-outs in the UWI/UNICOM T20 tournament in Trinidad and Tobago, had a prolific run of form for the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) where he did his talent justice by racking up 328 runs while only being dismissed once in the tournament.
He scored 64, 88, 56, 56 and 64 on his way to being adjudged the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
The former West Indies Under 19 player in expressing what the selection means for him said: “The selection means a lot, it means a lot to me, my family and all my supporters and friends who have been keeping me in shape and working with me.”
Singh who will make his debut in the International Cricket Council (ICC) recognized T20 tournament when he puts on the Warriors armour, will no doubt look to catch the eyes of the West Indies selectors.
He has a highest T20 score of 116 in the Chicago Premiere League in the United States of America and will be keen to replicate the performance in the CPL to catch the eyes of the West Indies selectors.
“I’ve always wanted to play for the West Indies and this is just another opportunity to get me to where I want to be.”
Meanwhile, the Warriors have also added five other new faces to this year’s franchise setup. Those faces include 21-year-old Bajan all-rounder Roshon Primus who is steadily making a name for himself, the consistent Jamaican wicket-keeper/batsman Chadwick Walton, ICC Americas Steven Taylor, Afghanistan all-rounder Rashid Khan and Guyanese fast bowler Keon Joseph.
Fast bowler Sohail Tanvir, opener Martin Guptill, last year’s hero Chris Lynn, Trinidad and Tobago duo in Rayad Emrit and Jason Mohammed, Guyanese Veerasammy Permaul, Assad Fudadin and Steven Jacobs and Trinidad and Tobago wicketkeeper/batsman Steven Katwaroo make up the list of players coming back from last year.
Christopher Barnwell, Ronsford Beaton and Jonathon Foo are the only other Guyanese players to earn a payday in yesterday’s player’s draft. Barnwell will turn out for the Barbados Tridents while Beaton retained his place with the Trinidad and Tobago Knight Riders whereas Foo will continue from where he left off from last year with Jamaica Tallawahs in this year’s edition of the biggest party in sport.
