Uthappa, Binny set to dominate KPL bidding war

Eight teams are set to battle for the coveted Karbonn Smart Karnataka Premier League 2015 trophy when the fourth edition of the tournament gets under way in a few weeks time. Before the battle on the field, the bidding wars will take centre stage when Mysuru Warriors, Mangalore United, Belagavi Panthers, Bellary Tuskers, Hubli Tigers, Bijapur Bulls and the latest KPL entrant Namma Shimoga look to strengthen their sides with a host of experienced players and talented newcomers (Note: the All Stars Celebrity XI - Rockstars - will not be part of the auction). Below is a look at a brief history of KPL, how the teams fared, who are the players retained and which players the teams will be gunning for during the auction, which will be held at the KSCA on Saturday, 25th July 2015.

A Twenty20 Cricket League on the lines of Indian Premier League, the first edition of KPL kick-started in September 2009 with the Balachandra Akhil-led Bangalore Rural winning the inaugural trophy by beating Belagavi Panthers, which was led by current Karnataka coach J Arunkumar and also had star players like present Karnataka captain R Vinay Kumar and Manish Pandey. The second season was held in September-October 2010 and Akhil-led side (Bangalore Provident) made it to the final again but ended up on the losing side against Mangalore United. Due to certain reasons, the tournament could not be held for the next three years before a revamped edition in 2014 saw Mysore Warriors, led by Manish Pandey, defeat the Vinay Kumar-led Belagavi Panthers to lift the title.

• Each team will have a total salary purse of Rs 20 lakhs for the 2015 season. The retained players' fees will remain the same as the previous edition and this amount will be deducted from the Pool A or Pool B purse (depending on which pool the player belongs)

• Namma Shimoga, the new outfit in the tournament this year, will have a full purse of Rs 20 lakhs

• The purse for Pool A players will be maximum of Rs. 12 lakhs and the minimum bid for a player in Pool A will be Rs. 50,000. The purse for the Pool B players will be a maximum of Rs. 8 lakhs and the minimum bid for a player will be Rs.10,000

• Players not bought in Pool 'A' will be added to pool 'B' and their base price will be halved at Rs 25,000

• Players will sign a one-year contract with the franchise and each squad will have a minimum of 15 players and a maximum of 20 players, including 2 players from its catchment area

Mangalore United:

Retained: Karun Nair (Pool A), Ronit More (Pool A)Balance available: For Pool A players 5,44,250; For Pool B players 8,00,000Auction strategy: Udit Patel was part of the Mangalore team in 2014 and the franchise will be hoping to buy him back during the 2015 auction, while Mangalore will also eye a couple top guns from Pool A.

Belgavi Panthers:

Retained: R Vinay Kumar (Pool A), Abhishek Reddy (Pool A)Balance available: For Pool A players - 6,75,000; For Pool B players - 8,00,000Auction strategy: Bharat Chipli and M Nidish, who were the top two run-getters for Belagavi last season, are likely to find favour with the franchise again as Belgavi is likely to bid hard for them. They will also look at buying back B Naveen, who was their top wicket-taker in 2014 while the Panthers will be eager to make the most of the purse available by roping in quality players from Pool A and Pool B during the auction.

Bellary Tuskers:

Retained: Nischal D (Pool A), Devraj Patil (Pool B)Balance available: For Pool A Players - 11,40,000; For Pool B players - 7,90,000Auction strategy: Bellary Tuskers had Robin Uthappa and Mayank Agarwal in their team last year, but chose against retaining them and instead went for 20-year-old Nischal (elevated to Pool A this year). The franchise will be eager to get back the star players, but it remains to be seen if they bid the big numbers these two players are likely to attract during the auction. The fact that they finished second from the bottom last year, despite the presence of some big names, might prompt them for a complete overhaul.

Bijapur Bulls:

Retained: R Samarth (Pool A), KC Cariappa (Pool A)Balance available: For Pool A Players - 10,20,000; For Pool B players 8,00,000Auction strategy: KC Cariappa, whose exploits in the KPL last year earned him an IPL contract, has been retained and promoted to Pool A this year while the franchise also decided to hold on to talented Karnataka batsman Samarth. The Bulls will also be eager to get hold of Abhimanyu Mithun, KP Apanna and Kunal Kapoor, who were part of the squad last year.

Hubli Tigers:

Retained: KL Rahul (Pool A), Sreenath Aravind (Pool A)Balance available: For Pool A Players - 7,00,000; For Pool B players 8,00,000Auction strategy: Hubli Tigers, who finished fifth last year, will be hoping to buy some big names during the auction, while they will also be hoping to buy back the likes of R Jonathan and Kranthi Kumar, who did reasonably well for the team last year.

Mysuru Warriors:

Retained: Manish Pandey (Pool A), J Suchith (Pool A)Balance available: For Pool A Players - 8,00,000; For Pool B players 8,00,000Auction strategy: Having retained the star pair, who did well in IPL for their respective teams, the defending champions will also look at buying back players like Shishir Bhavane, Manjesh Reddy and KB Pawan, who performed well last year. Adithya B Sagar, Amit Verma and Vyshak Vijay Kumar might also find favourable bids from the franchise if Mysuru want to get back a major part of the winning combination of last year.

Namma Shimoga:

Retained: NoneBalance available: For Pool A Players - 12,00,000; For Pool B players - 8,00,000Auction strategy: With a full purse and a whole lot of players to choose from, Shimoga will go out all guns blazing during the KPL 2015 auction in a bid to get hold of a balanced team with a good combination of stars and talented players. Bharath Chipli, a Shimoga-born cricketer who has represented Deccan Changers, might find himself in the middle of a bidding war as the Shimoga franchise is likely to compete with Belagavi to get hold of the cricketer.

While there are 227 players who will go under the hammer on Saturday, there are a few who will rank as top investments for the franchises. Here is CB's pick of the top-ten who are likely to bag lucrative KPL deals:Robin Uthappa, Stuart Binny, Shreyas Gopal, Abhimanyu Mithun, HS Sharath, KP Appanna, CM Gautham, Mayank Agarwal, Kunal Kapoor, KB Pawan.