Gautam, Binny up for grabs

 With a majority of the senior players being retained by their respective franchises, the young and emerging players of the State will be under focus at the Players Auction for the fifth edition of the Karnataka Premier League here on Wednesday.

Attacking openers Robin Uthappa (Bijapur Bulls) and Mayank Agarwal (Belagavi Panthers) along with senior pacemen R Vinay Kumar (Belagavi Panthers) and Sreenath Arvind (Hubli Tigers) have been expectedly retained, that is sure to raise the demand for youngsters.
A total of 219 players will go under the hammer in two groups –– Pool A and Pool B.

Pool A has 15 players to be auctioned off after 21 from this group were retained by their respective franchises while Pool B will see 204 players being sold off.

Each team -- with a purse of Rs 20 lakh (Rs 12 lakh to buy Pool A players and Rs 8 lakh to pick players from Pool B) -- has been allowed to retain a maximum of four players.     

KL Rahul (Hubli Tigers), Stuart Binny (Namma Shivamogga) and CM Gautam (Mysore Warriors) –– three big guns -- are placed in Pool A after having been released by their respective franchises. 

Rahul, who is enjoying a purple patch with the Indian Test team at the moment, is expected to be picked for the home series against New Zealand starting September, giving a strong reason for Hubli to let go off the right-hander. The Test series begins from September 22 while the KPL is scheduled to be held from Sept 16 to October 1.

Binny, who attracted the highest bid when he was picked for Rs 5.5 lakh by Shivamogga last season, disappointed with the bat and ball, finishing the league with one wicket and 106 runs. The all-rounder will, however, still remain one of the hot properties along with the seasoned Gautam at the auction.   

KB Pawan, who was the second run-getter last season with 321, is likely to be in demand along with proven customers such as Shishir Bhavane, Abhishek Reddy, Bharat Chipli and David Mathias in Pool A.

The young lot in Zeeshan Ali Sayyed, Likith Bannur, Dikshanshu Negi, Kishore Kamath and Nikin Jose, who have excelled consistently in the league and State-level tournaments will also be under strong contention at the auction.

Adding spice to the auction will be Rockstars, the celebrity team, who have been allowed to participate in the auction. Rockstars, who had former India internationals such as Sunil Joshi and David Johnson in their side last year, can pick one player from Pool A and five from Pool B. They can splurge a maximum of Rs 2.5 lakh for the Pool A  player and Rs 4 lakh for Pool B players.

Meanwhile actress Ragini Dwivedi has bought Bellary Tuskers in partnership with  Arvind Reddy, Managing Director, E Zone Pvt Ltd. The auction will be hosted by popular commentator Charu Sharma. 

Purses available for the franchises after retention of players: Belagavi Panthers: Rs 8.5 lakh (Rs 50,000 for Pool A+Rs 8 lakh for Pool B); Bellary Tuskers: Rs 14.9 lakh (Rs. 8.2 lakh + Rs 6.7 lakh); Bijapur Bulls: Rs 9.7 lakh (Rs. 1.7 lakh + Rs 8 lakh); Hubli Tigers: Rs 14.05 lakh (Rs 6.05 lakh +Rs 8 lakh); Mangalore United: Rs 11,64, 250 (Rs 5,44,250 + Rs. 6.2 lakh); Mysuru Warriors: Rs 14.8 lakh (Rs 6.9 lakh + Rs 7.9 lakh); Namma Shivamogga: Rs 13.1 lakh (Rs 5.7 lakh + Rs. 7.4 lakh); Rockstars: Rs 6.5 lakh (Rs 2.5 lakh + Rs 4 lakh).