Karnataka stars eye big cheque

Batters Mayank Agarwal (left), Manish Pandey and Devdutt Padikkal will be three of the big stars who will go under the hammer on Saturday. DH File Photo

The Chinnaswamy Stadium has been a hub of activities this monsoon season. The first half of July saw some of the finest players from the domestic circuit slug it for supremacy in the Duleep Trophy which climaxed with South Zone emerging champions in thrilling fashion last Sunday. Saturday (July 22), too, may witness intense action but an off-the-field kind with players being the spectators this time!

Owners of six franchises -- defending champions Gulbarga Mystics, last year’s runners-up Bengaluru Blasters, Mysore Warriors, Hubli Tigers and two new entrants, Mangaluru Dragons and Shivamogga Lions -- and their respective think-tanks will be hoping to assemble a team of their choice when the player auction for the second Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 takes place.

In a bid to give the auction and the tournament -- scheduled to take place at the Chinnaswamy Stadium from August 13-29 -- a big fillip, several elite Karnataka players have made themselves available for the event and all eyes will on them when their names come up for bidding. Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal, his predecessor Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Abhimanyu Mithun, K Gowtham and Devdutt Padikkal -- all of whom have played for India -- are some of the top names whose services franchises will strongly pursue.

Apart from them, current Karnataka stars, especially red-hot pacers Vidwath Kaverappa, Vyshak Vijaykumar and V Koushik, talented young batters like Nikin Jose SJ and Vishal Onat as well as seasoned names like Shreyas Gopal, Abhinav Manohar, Ronit More, R Samarth and Rohan Kadam will be up for grabs. Approximately a little over 700 players will be featuring in the auction.

Each of the six franchises will have a maximum purse of Rs 50 lakh and they must field a team minimum of 16 players and no more than 18 in addition to the two catchment area players from their respective zones. Just like how the IPL has various categories during auctions to make it easier for the franshises, Maharaja Cup too has earmarked players into four categories.

Category A will feature India and IPL players, Category B has all senior players that have played BCCI tournaments such as Vijay Hazare Trophy, Ranji Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Category C consists of players from all other BCCI tournaments while Category D contains all players registered with KSCA.

“Last edition was a tremendous success, we saw many young players make the most of the opportunity. This is the main purpose of the tournament, we want to see more youngsters from Karnataka showcase their potential,” said BK Sampath Kumar, Commissioner of Maharaja Trophy and Vice-President of KSCA, in a statement on the eve of the auction.