Second auction of KPL today

This time 43 players, who have been released by their respective franchises, will be placed under the hammer along with some other players from the State league and moffusil centres. The player-auction will be held at 11 am with the entire proceedings to be telecast live on Udaya TV.

“There will be 43 players, belong to ‘A’ and ‘C’ groups released by the respective franchises, up for auction along with some other players. The player-cap for auction is Rs 12 lakh this time,” a top KSCA official said.

It may be recalled that the player-cap in the previous auction was Rs 7 lakh with swashbuckling batsman Robin Uthappa and power-hitting all-rounder Stuart Binny attracting the highest bids of Rs 3.25 lakhs and Rs 3.20 lakhs respectively from Bangalore Brigaders and Bijapur Bulls.

However, some of the franchises did not welcome the auction wholeheartedly. “A window for transfer of players would have been better, Now, we have to put some of our privately acquired players too for auction and that’s not exactly what we have been looking for,” a franchise official said.

The second edition of the KPL will be held from September 17 at three venues, Bangalore, Manipal and Hubli.