JOIN USOpening batsman Robin Uthappa and paceman R Vinay Kumar head the pool of 19 players from Karnataka in the IPL Player Auction to be held here on February 12 and, if need be, 13.
Uthappa, who was with the now defunct Pune Warriors, has the highest base price among State cricketers at Rs 2 crore while Vinay’s starting bid is Rs 1.5 crore. Both Uthappa and Vinay are expected to attract handsome amounts given their utility in the T20 format. Part of this year’s Ranji winning side, Uthappa has been in good touch and with him doubling up as wicketkeeper, the right-hander will be one of the most sought after players in the auction.
Vinay has been one of the prolific wicket-takers in the IPL and that he attracted a million dollar bid from his home franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore in the last auction is a testimony to the value he brings to the table.
Another capped player from Karnataka is A Mithun whose base price is Rs 50 lakh. The paceman is the highest wicket-taker for Karnataka this Ranji season.
Other players from Karnataka are (all uncapped): Manish Pandey, CM Gautam (both Rs 20 lakh), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Shreyas Gopal, Karun Nair, Ronit More, KP Appanna, Udit Patel, Ryan Ninan, HS Sharath, Sunil Raju, Raju Bhatkal, R Samarth, Kunal Kapoor, Bharat Chipli, Ganesh Satish, Amit Verma, S Arvind (All Rs 10 lakh)