BENGALURU, July 22: Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Manish Pandey and Abhinav Manohar emerged as most expensive players in Shriram Capital Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20.
As many as 700 players from Karnataka went under the hammer on Saturday for the player auction at Chinnaswamy Stadium here in the city.
Six franchises, including the two new teams in Mangalore Dragons and Shivamogga Lions along with defending champions Gulbarga Mystics, last year’s runners-up Bengaluru Blasters, Mysore Warriors and Hubli Tigers battled it out for the state’s finest players with the hope of building a team that would help them attain the coveted Maharaja Trophy.
Manohar went to the Shivamogga Lions for Rs 15 lakhs, while ace opener Mayank will don the Kalyani Bengaluru Blasters jersey for yet another campaign at a price of Rs 14 lakhs. The left-handed big-hitter Padikkal was purchased by the Gulbarga Mystics for Rs 13.2 Lakhs and the experienced Pandey’s services were sought by the Hubli Tigers for Rs 10.6 lakhs.
The auction proved to be an enthralling affair, keeping the franchises and the viewers on the edge of their seats. Over 700 cricketers from across the state were slotted in four categories based on their credentials.
In Category A, the Lions also secured the services of all-rounder Shreyas Gopal for Rs 7.8 lakhs. Last year’s champions, Gulbarga Mystics purchased pacer Vyshakh Vijay Kumar (Rs 8.8 lakhs) and veteran spinner KP Appanna for Rs 4 lakhs. The Kalyani Bengaluru Blasters secured the fast bowler Abhimanyu Mithun for Rs 5.2 lakhs.
Hubli Tigers also bought the leggie KC Cariappa for Rs 7.2 lakhs and all-rounder Pravin Dubey for Rs 5.8 lakhs. Ace all-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham went to Mangaluru Dragons for Rs 6.6 lakhs along with speedster Ronit More for Rs 4.6 lakhs. Mysore Warriors also secured the left arm spinner, J Suchit for Rs 8.4 lakhs, fast bowler Prasidh M Krishna for Rs 7.4 lakhs while veteran batsman Karun Nair returned to them for Rs 6.8 lakhs.
Highlights from Category B included all-rounder Manoj S Bhandage going back to the Mysore Warriors for Rs 9 lakhs, wicketkeeper Luvnith Sisodiaa and pacer Vidhyadhar Patil were bought by the Kalyani Bengaluru Blaster for Rs 7.1 lakhs and Rs 7 lakhs respectively.
While the explosive Nikin Jose went to the Mangaluru Dragons for Rs 7 lakhs. Hard-hitter Chetan LR was bagged by the Gulbarga Mystics for Rs 6.2 lakhs.
Reflecting his thoughts on the player auction today, BK Sampath Kumar, Commissioner of Maharaja Trophy and Hon. Vice President of KSCA said, “With the return to the franchise model, it was great to see the enthusiasm from all the team owners at today’s auction. Over 700 players were featured in the auction and that is a testament to cricket in Karnataka. We believe this is a great platform for youngsters across Karnataka to play with some of the state and India’s finest players. Furthermore, this edition will be exclusively held at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium allowing players from all over the state to play at an international facility.”
The tournament kicks off on the 13 August, with the final scheduled for 29 August.
The cricketing extravaganza will be broadcast live on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports Kannada, while the FanCode app will serve as the digital streaming partner.
Gulbarga Mystics- Devdutt Padikkal, Appanna KP, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Sharath Srinivas, Chethan LR, Mohammed Aqib Jawad, Smaran R, Aneesh KV, Macneil Noronha, Sharan Goud, Abhilash Shetty, Hardik Raj, Shimon Luiz, Avinash D, Yashovardhan Parantap, Aadarsh Prajwal, Abul Hasan Khalid and Shaun Tristan Joseph.
Hubli Tigers- KC Cariappa, Pravin Dubey, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia, Shrijith KL, Mohammed Taha, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Darshan MB, Shivam MB, Naga Bharath, Santokh Singh, Mohith BA, Manvanth Kumar L, Mitrakant Singh Yadav, Malliksab G, Nathan D’mello, Rakshekar Harikant and Clement Raju.
Shivamogga Lions- Abhinav Manohar, Shreyas Gopal, Nihal Ullal, Koushik V, Sharath HS, Kranthi Kumar, Rohan Kadam, Shreyas Puranik, Pranav Bhatia, Vinay Sagar, Aditya Somanna, Adhoksh Hegde, Pavan Shridi, Rohan Naveen, Shivaraj, Rohit Kumar K, Nischith Rao and Deepak Devadiga.
Mysore Warriors- Karun Nair, Suchith J, Prasidh Krishna, Shoaib Manager, Samarth R, Karthik CA, Manoj Bhandage, Venkatesh M, Tushar Singh, Kushal Wadhwani, Shashi Kumar K, Rakshith S, Shreesha S Achar, Monish Reddy, Aditya Mani, Gautam Mishra, Rahul Singh Rawat and Bharath Dhuri.
Kalyani Bengaluru Blasters- Mithun A, Mayank Agarwal, Pradeep T, Mohammed Sarfaraz Ashraf, Pavan Deshpande, Shubhang Hegde, Nishchal D, Vidyadhar Patil, Jeshwanth Acharya, Jasper EJ, Kumar LR, Mohsin Khan, Aashish Mahesh, Rishi Bopanna, Suraj Ahuja, Aaron Christie, Abhishek Ahlawat, and Aman Khan.
Mangaluru Dragons- Ronit More, Krishnappa Gowtham, Siddharth KV, Nikin Jose, Sharath BR, Prateek Jain, Anirudha Joshi, Rohan Patil, Gaurav Dhiman, Shivakumar BU, Thippa Reddy, Aaditya Nair, Aditya Goyal, Anand Doddmani, Kruthik Krishna, Naveen MG, Dheeraj J Gowda, and Aneeshwar Gautam. (UNI)
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