Pakistan all-rounder Sohail Tanvir was among the top picks at the Caribbean Premier League on Thursday.

Tanvir was picked up by CPL franchise Guyana Amazon Warriors for $160,000.

He was joined by West Indies internationals Lendl Simmons (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots), Chris Gayle (Jamaica Tallawahs), Dwayne Bravo (Trinbago Knight Riders), Kieron Pollard (Barbados Tridents) and South Africa’s David Miller (Zouks) for the top category.

South Africa skipper AB de Villiers and teammate Faf du Plessis lined up for the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots alongside Australian international Brad Hodge.

De Villiers will be joined at Barbados Tridents by Pollard and Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik.

Hard-hitting Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal and all-rounder Imad Wasim were picked up for $70,000 by Trinbago Knight Riders and Jamaica Tallawahs respectively.

Australia’s two-time World Cup winner Shane Watson will join his former international team-mate Michael Hussey as well as West Indies World T20 captain Darren Sammy at the Zouks.

Former ICC Cricketer of the Year Kumar Sangakkara, meanwhile, will return to the Jamaica Tallawahs where he is joined by Gayle, Lasith Malinga and Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.

The recently re-named Trinbago Knight Riders will welcome back the number one T20 bowler Sunil Narine from Guyana and he will be joined by South Africa’s Hashim Amla, Bravo as well as former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum.

New Zealand top order batsman Martin Guptill will play for the Guyana Amazon Warriors.

Each of the six squads feature 16 players — 10 from the West Indies, five international and one each from the Americas zone.

In an effort to grow the sport in the wider region, organisers had already announced that six CPL games will be staged in the United States.

There were no places in Thursday’s selection, however, for Pakistan trio Mohammad Amir, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif who were jailed in the United Kingdom after being found guilty of spot fixing at the 2010 Lord’s Test against England.

All three have now had their five-year bans lifted and while Amir has already returned to the Pakistan team, Butt and Asif had been hoping to return to the international scene in the CPL.