Manish Pandey, Devdutt Padikkal, Abhinav Manohar, and Chethan LR will be in the spotlight during the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 Player Auction, which takes place on Tuesday in Bengaluru.
Hubli Tigers, the runners-up from last season, have the largest remaining purse of INR 41.50 lakhs, while Gulbarga Mystics has the lowest at INR 24.05 lakhs. Franchises will carefully consider their strategy as they seek to finalise their rosters ahead of the upcoming season.
Category A will comprise some of the most sought-after names in the auction pool, as well as Indian and IPL cricket players. Last season, Abhinav Manohar was the second greatest run-scorer at Chinnaswamy Stadium, with 502 runs at an average of 84.50. Manish Pandey, who guided the Hubli Tigers to the title in Season 2 and a play-off finish the previous year, returns to the pool. Devdutt Padikkal, who played for the Gulbarga Mystics last year and was instrumental in their playoff run, will also be worth watching.
Shreyas Gopal and K Gowtham are also in Category A, having played an important role in the Mysore Warriors’ title run last year, taking 14 wickets with his off-spin and gaining vital experience.
Chethan LR, who was the most expensive pick in last year’s auction at INR 8.60 lakhs, is expected to attract attention once more. Last season, the flashy opener was one of the Bengaluru Blasters’ top scorers, with 429 runs in 11 innings.
Vidyadhar Patil, the Mysore Warriors’ second top wicket-taker last year, is also included in this group. KV Siddharth and Nikin Jose, two of the top batters for the Mangaluru Dragons, return to the pool as proven performers. Other promising talents in Category B include top-order hitters Rohan Patil, Aneesh KV, Mohd. Taha, and bowler Darshan MB.
Kumar LR, the leading wicket taker last season with 17 wickets, will return to Category C, which is reserved for young state players. Joining him in this group are India U19 fast bowler Samarth Nagaraj, Samit Dravid, wicketkeeper-batsman Harshil Dharmani, and Melu Kranthi Kumar, who took 14 wickets for the Bengaluru Blasters previous season while maintaining an exceptional economy rate of 7.40.
Meanwhile, Category D will be allocated for all other enrolled KSCA players. This group includes Lavish Kaushal, who impressed previous year by finishing as the Bengaluru Blasters’ second greatest wicket-taker with 16 wickets, helping them reach the final.
Each team is allotted INR 50.00 lakhs for the auction. After exercising their right to keep four players each, the Hubli Tigers enter the auction with the highest bid of INR 41.50 lakhs. They are followed by the Mangaluru Dragons (INR 37.70 lakhs), Mysore Warriors (INR 36.50 lakhs), Shivamogga Lions (INR 30.80 lakhs), Bengaluru Blasters (INR 28.40 lakhs), and Gulbarga Mystics (INR 24.05 lakhs).
Retained Players
Mysuru Warriors: Karun Nair (INR 6.8L), Prasidh Krishna (INR 2L), Karthik S U (INR 0.5L), Karthik CA (INR 4.2L)
Bengaluru Blasters: Mayank Agarawal (INR 14L), Shubhang Hegde (INR 4.3L), Suraj Ahuja (INR 1L), Naveen MG (INR 2.3L)
Hubli Tigers: Manvanth Kumar L (INR 1L), Shrijith KL (INR 2.1L), Cariappa KC (INR 4.2L), Karthikeya KP (INR 1.2L)
Gulbarga Mystics: Luvnith Sisodia (INR 7.2L), Pravin Dubey (INR 6.8L), Vyshak V (INR 8.8L), Smaran R (INR 3.15L)
Shivamogga Lions: Koushik V (INR 5.9L), Nihal Ullal (INR 2.1L), Hardik Raj (INR 5.8L), Avinash D (INR 5.4L)
Mangaluru Dragons: Abhilash Shetty (INR 6.3L), Macneil Hadley Noronha (INR 5L), Paras Gurbax Arya (INR 0.5L), Lochan S Gowda (INR 0.5L)
India
