Players auction today; Mysuru-leg to take off from Aug.27

The eighth edition of the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) is set to commence on Aug.16 in Bengaluru with the defending champions Bijapur Bulls set to square off against the Bengaluru Blasters at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

While the first leg of the Tournament will be played in Bengaluru (Aug.16 to 20), the second will be held in Hubballi (Aug.22 to 25) and the concluding phase in Mysuru (Aug.27 to Sept.1).

KPL 2019 will follow a similar template to the previous season, with the seven teams in the fray namely the Bijapur Bulls, Belagavi Panthers, Bengaluru Blasters, Hubli Tigers, Shivamogga Lions, Ballari Tuskers and Mysuru Warriors battling it out for the ultimate title.

However, in order to spice up the competition and on ‘popular demand’, the league will welcome the addition of the eliminators and qualifiers, which will replace the existing and traditional mode of the Top 4 teams from the competition making it to the semifinals.

The player auction for the upcoming season is being held today (July 27), with over 200 players set to fall under the hammer split over 35 Pool-A players and 202 Pool-B players’ services up for grabs.

A number of India internationals and other top-flight stars will be keen to attract fat contracts, with prominent names such as Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, and Krishnappa Gowtham among others released by their respective franchises. However, the upcoming India’s tour of West Indies which will involve the participation of Manish Pandey in the LOI series as well as the Duleep Trophy, slated to begin from Aug.17 could see a few big profile names missing out from a major part of the tournament, that adds excitement to the aspect of teams looking to build a core of Pool-A players.

Ballari Tuskers : C.M. Gautam and Devdutt Padikkal

Bijapur Bulls : Bharath Chipli and K.C. Cariappa

Belagavi Panthers : Shubhang Hegde and D. Avinash

Bengaluru Blasters : V. Koushik and Manoj Bhandage

Hubli Tigers : R. Vinay Kumar and Praveen Dubey

Mysuru Warriors : J. Suchith and Vyshak Vijay Kumar

Shivamogga Lions : Nihal Ullal and Prithviraj Shekhawat

Auction Highlights

Sold Players from Pool-A

Pavan Deshpande Rs. 7.30 lakh (Shivamogga Lions)

Aniruddha Joshi Rs. 7.10 lakh (Mysuru Warriors)

Mohammed Taha Rs. 5.70 lakh (Hubli Tigers)

Amit Verma Rs. 5.20 lakh (Mysuru Warriors)

C.A. Karthik Rs. 4.70 lakh (Ballari Tuskers)

Prateek Jain Rs. 4.50 lakh (Bijapur Bulls)

Abhimanyu Mithun Rs. 3.60 lakh (Shivamogga Lions)

M.G. Naveen Rs. 3.50 lakh (Bijapur Bulls)

Rohan Kadam Rs. 3.20 lakh (Bengaluru Blasters)

Aditya Somanna Rs. 2.60 lakh (Hubli Tigers)

Abhishek Reddy Rs. 2.50 lakh (Ballari Tuskers)

B.R. Sharath Rs. 2.40 lakh (Bengaluru Blasters)

Krishnappa Gowtham Rs. 1.90 lakh (Ballari Tuskers)

Shishir Bhavane Rs. 1.80 lakh (Hubli Tigers)

Stalin Hoover Rs. 1.10 lakh (Belagavi Panthers)

Dikshankshu Negi Rs. 1 lakh (Belagavi Panthers)

K.V. Siddharth Rs. 50,000 (Mysuru Warriors)

T. Pradeep Rs. 50,000 (Ballari Tuskers)

Pavan Deshpande and Aniruddha Joshi finish with the highest contracts from the Pool-A as a number of star names such as Manish Pandey, Karun Nair and Shreyas Gopal failed to find any bidders.

All the unsold players will be brought back on demand at the end of the Pool-B auction. [Pool-B auction was on when we went to Press]