Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is one of the top T20 tournaments in the world. Launched in the year 2013, the Caribbean Premier League is the number one T20 league of the West Indies. The biggest names of Caribbean cricket like Chris Gayle, DJ Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Jason Holder, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell and several others have played in this league.
Like the IPL, the CPL organizers allow the franchises to pick some foreign players in their squad. Four to five overseas players can be a part of a CPL playing XI. Some top players like Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Mohammad Amir, Fakhar Zaman, Maheesh Theekshana, Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi are playing in CPL 2024.
The league is 11 years old, and not all fans would remember that the following six legendary cricketers also participated in the league once.
1. Ricky Ponting played in Caribbean Premier League 2013
A few months after his last IPL match for Mumbai Indians, Australian legend Ricky Ponting signed with the Antigua Hawkbills for the inaugural season of CPL. He played under Marlon Samuels’ captaincy in that tournament.
2. Justin Kemp played in Caribbean Premier League 2013
Former South African all-rounder Justin Kemp was also a part of the Antigua Hawkbills team in the first edition of the CPL. He played just three games, scoring 38 runs before he withdrew from the tournament.
3. Tillakaratne Dilshan
Several Sri Lankan legends have been a part of the CPL. One of them is TM Dilshan, who played for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the inaugural season. Ramnaresh Sarwan captained the Warriors that season.
4. Mahela Jayawardene
Former Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene turned up for the Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel in the inaugural CPL tournament. He even had a stint with the Jamaica Tallawahs team later in his CPL career.
5. Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara was 35 years old when he signed up to play for the Jamaica Tallawahs in the first-ever CPL season. The legendary Sri Lankan wicketkeeper batter had an average of 63 in that competition.
6. Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Shivnarine Chanderpaul is one of the legends of West Indies cricket. Known for his unique stance, Chanderpaul signed with the St Lucia Zouks in 2013, but he could not play any matches because of his contract with English county, Derbyshire.
