By Renwick Rose

The declining status of West Indies cricket has been further confirmed by the exclusion of three of the household names in international limited-over cricket from the list of international stars retained by their teams for the 2022 version of the leading franchise T-20 league, the Indian Professional League (IPL).

Only West Indies white-ball cricketers, captain Keiron Pollard of the Mumbai Indians, and his compatriots of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine were retained from the list of Caribbean players who participated in this year’s IPL. Notable absentees are veteran Dwayne Bravo the perennial “champions” winner who was an integral part of both the IPL title and the Caribbean title earlier.

Not surprising another veteran, the 42-year old Chris Gayle, who has clearly passed his time based on his recent returns, has not been retained by his team Punjab Kings, along with, surprisingly, West Indies wicketkeeper and possibly leadership successor, Nicholas Pooran.

A number of other Caribbean participants in the IPL have also not won retention and will have to go through the auction, scheduled for early in the new year if they are to gain contracts for the 2022 season.