The Karnataka Premier League (KPL), into its fifth season this year, has carved a niche for itself in terms of nurturing talents at the grassroots level in the state of Karnataka. Over the past four seasons, the KPL has seen young cricketers emerge from the streets of the state and make it big on the international stage. Not only does the league provide opportunities to young cricketers to showcase their talent, it also makes it easier for the state associations hunting for fresh talents to spot them; now that they come under an organisational structure. While not all of them can make it to the international level, the league in itself also provides a viable financial option for the cricketers to sustain themselves, which is also something that is hard to come by, especially for sportspersons in India.
The four KPL seasons have seen many cricketers evolve to the next level, and have also given the Indian cricket team some of its most promising young recruits. Most of them, to be honest, have made their way there through the Indian Premier League (IPL) – which is the godfather of all such leagues at the state level – that has not only become the biggest annual sporting festival of the country, but has also become a stairway to admission into the national cricketing ranks. In this piece, we enlist five Karnataka cricketers to have made it to different IPL teams based on their performances in the KPL.
#1 Karun Nair
One of the brightest young prospects to knock on the doors of the Indian cricket team over the past two years or so has been the young Karnataka batsman, Karun Nair. Nair first appeared onto the scenes in the very first edition of the league, wherein he played for Mangalore United for 3 matches and scored 46 runs, after which he was dropped. In the next season, however, Nair exhibited an improved performance in the following season as he scored 140 runs from 7 matches and helped his team lift the KPL title for the first time.
After a three-year hiatus – as no KPL was organised in 2011, 2012 and 2013 – when the league returned to life in 2014, Nair had already made a name for himself through the IPL, wherein he had played for the Rajasthan Royals that season and scored 330 runs from 11 matches at an average of 33.00 and a strike rate of 142. This success translated into another remarkable performance in the following KPL season, wherein, in the 2014 season, the right-handed batsman scored 302 runs from 7 matches at an average of 60.40 and a strike-rate of 123.77.
The runs kept flowing through his bat the following season as well, as in 2015, Nair scored 197 runs from 5 matches at 65.67 and a strike-rate of 135, after a bleak IPL season the same year that saw him garner just 181 runs from 14 games at 16.45. Thereafter, the 24-year-old had a superb 2016 season in the IPL, scoring 357 runs from 14 games for the Delhi Daredevils – with the franchise recruiting him for the young brigade that they intended to build – and deservedly received his team India call-up for the tour of Zimbabwe in June.
#2 Mayank Aggarwal
Another promising right-handed top-order batsman, who rose to prominence through the KPL has been Mayank Aggarwal. Having first played in the league for the Shamanoor Davangere Diamonds in 2009, Aggarwal didn’t have a very impressive season, as he finished with 101 runs from 7 games at 16.83. However, he turned things around dramatically in the next season, as he finished as the top run-scorer in the league, accumulating 297 runs from 8 games at an average of 37.12 and a strike-rate of 138.
As a consequence of this, Aggarwal was roped in by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for the 2011 IPL season, wherein the batsman scored 141 runs from 8 games at 20.14. His IPL performances improved in the next season wherein he had 225 runs from 16 games to his name at 20.45 and a strike-rate of 142. This improvement translated into his KPL performance as well, as the right-hander, who appeared for the Bellary Tuskers in 2014, scored 167 runs from 6 games at 27.83 and a strike-rate of 135.
#3 Sreenath Aravind
Coming to the bowlers, the left-arm medium pace bowler, Sreenath Aravind has also been one of the beneficiaries of the KPL, having worked his way through the cricketing ladders through the league. Having featured in its debut season for the first time, Aravind played for the Mangalore United and picked up 8 wickets from 7 matches at an economy rate of 7.17. In the following season (2010-11) the fast bowler picked up 7 more wickets from 9 matches at an economy rate of 5.50 as Mangalore finished as the eventual winners.
These KPL exploits paved the way towards his inclusion in the Royal Challengers Bangalore set up for the 2011 edition of the IPL wherein he played 13 matches and picked up 21 wickets at 17.52 and an economy rate of 8.00. After a couple of lean years (2012-2013) Aravind was back in 2014, wherein he picked up 9 wickets from 6 matches in the third edition of the KPL, this time playing for the Hubbali Tigers.
As a consequence of this, and a few impressive performances in the domestic season, Aravind was handed his India cap and he featured in the 1st T20I played between India and South Africa at Dharamsala, on October 2 last year.
#4 Stuart Binny
One of the few all-rounders that the Indian cricket team has at its disposal, and the seam bowler who holds the record for the best ODI figures by an Indian bowler (6 wickets for 4 runs against Bangladesh in 2014), Stuart Binny, is also a KPL prodigy. Having featured for the Bijapur Bulls in the inaugural edition of the league in 2009, Binny picked up 10 wickets from 8 games at 25.10 whilst also scoring 185 runs at 30.83. This all-round performance immediately caught the attention of the IPL scouts, and he was roped in by the Rajasthan Royals for the 2010 edition of the IPL.
Although Binny managed to play just one game for the Royals that year, the son of the former India pacer, Roger Binny, continued to play in the KPL and picked up 5 wickets from 6 games and scored 144 runs at 48.00 in the following edition of the league, in the 2010-11 season. Consequently, in 2011, he was given a longer rope by his IPL franchise, the Royals, and went on to play 6 matches. He played 8 matches in in 2012, but his big break came in 2013, wherein Binny scored 293 runs from 17 matches 32.55 and a strike-rate of 147 and also picked up 6 wickets. The all-rounder has come a long way since then and has represented India in 6 Tests, 14
He played 8 matches in in 2012, but his big break came in 2013, wherein Binny scored 293 runs from 17 matches 32.55 and a strike-rate of 147 and also picked up 6 wickets. The all-rounder has come a long way since then and has represented India in 6 Tests, 14 ODIs and 2 T20Is.
#5 KL Rahul
KL Rahul can probably be judged as the cricketer who made the most of his KPL career, for his story pre-KPL and that post KPL is akin to a rags to riches story. While he had an ordinary run in the KPL during the first two seasons (2009 and 2010), managing just 141 runs from 11 matches cumulatively. However, a terrific Ranji season in 2013 propelled the top-order batsman towards the IPL ranks and he played 5 games for the Royal Challengers in 2013.
Perhaps it was that confidence that led him to the top of the run-scorers’ charts when the KPL returned to life in 2014, as he plundered 347 runs from 6 games, playing for the Hubbali Tigers at an average of 69.40 and a strike-rate of 160. Towards the end of the same year, Rahul received his maiden Team India call-up, for the tour of Australia in 2014-15, and played two Test matches – at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). The Karnataka batsman scored his maiden Test century at the SCG, and since then, has been a permanent member of India’s Test squad.
Also, over the past couple of years or so, Rahul, who was only known as a technically sound Test batsman, has reinvented his game and has adapted brilliantly to the rigours of limited-overs cricket as well, the evidence of which have been his recent exploits during the limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe, wherein he became the first Indian batsman to score a century on ODI debut. In IPL 2016, playing for the RCB, Rahul scored 397 runs from 14 games and played a crucial role in the team’s ascendance to the finals of the league.
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