CUTTACK, India (CMC) — West Indies speedster Sheldon Cottrell says he is anxiously looking forward to his first stint in the high-profile Indian Premier League (IPL), after landing a lucrative million-dollar deal with Kings XI Punjab.

The 30-year-old was the subject of an intense bidding war at Thursday’s auction in Kolkata, before Kings XI secured the deal for his services in the campaign bowling off next April.

“I’m really looking forward [to] that,” the Jamaican left-armer said following the auction.

“I am very thankful and humbled at the same time, and just to play alongside Chris [Gayle] and Nicholas [Pooran], KL Rahul — just some of the names — I’m very elated.”

Cottrell entered the draft at a base price of US$70,400, but fierce competition for his services from Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and Kings XI saw his value vault to US$1.2 million.

The deal came against the backdrop of an excellent year for Cottrell internationally, where he picked up 30 wickets from 23 One-Day Internationals and 14 scalps from 12 T20 Internationals.

He was one of the few West Indies players to emerge from the ICC World Cup in England with reputation intact, finishing with 12 wickets in an otherwise wretched campaign by the Caribbean side.

Cottrell said he owed his latest IPL achievement to his West Indies teammates who have been key to his success this year.

“Without my teammates [and] West Indies I wouldn’t have made it here, in my personal view,” he pointed out. “They have backed me 100 per cent and I just want to tell them thanks.”

Left-hander Shimron Hetmyer, who was snapped up by Capitals for US$1.1 million, said he also owed a debt of gratitude to West Indies.

“I wasn’t really looking too far ahead about it [auction]. Really and truly I was just thinking all about the West Indies,” the Guyanese stroke-maker said.

“They have brought me [here] and made me the person I am today, so all thanks to the West Indies for just giving me the chance to represent [them]. I just do my thing and it’s all for the team.”

Hetmyer was discarded by Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Banglalore after just one season at the end of the 2019 campaign, but a sparkling hundred in the opening ODI last week helped to renew his chances of a lucrative contract.

Both Cottrell and Hetmyer are with the West Indies team preparing for the decisive final ODI of the three-match series against India tomorrow.