The Karbonn Karnataka Premier League (KPL) Champion team Bijapur Bulls on Thursday evening opted to retain their top four players, Robin Uthappa (Rs 3.4 lakh), Abhimanyu Mithun (Rs 5.1 lakh), KC Carriappa (Rs 50,000) and Samarth Ravikumar (Rs 1.3 lakh), all from pool A, ahead of the player auction for the Karbonn Karnataka Premier League T20 cricket tournament powered by Cycle Pure Agarbathies.
The Karbonn KPL tournament is scheduled to be held in two legs, in Mysuru (September 16 to 25) and Hubballi (September 27 to October 1). The seven teams have been permitted to retain a maximum of four players each ahead of the player auction to be held at the KSCA on August 10 at 2pm.
The teams have a purse of Rs 20 lakh a piece. The four players are retained for the same amount that they were sold last year. The money for the retained players will come from the Rs 12 lakh allocated for a maximum of five group A players. The maximum amount permissible to be spent on Group B players is Rs 8 lakh. However, any sum remaining after the auction of Group A players can be carried forward to the Group B kitty.
“The team owners have put in a lot of thought to retain the most valuable players while taking into consideration economics too. We are looking forward to an exciting players auction on August 10,” said Brijesh Patel, Honorary Secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association.
Uthappa is a star in T20 cricket: Bijapur Bulls
Explaining the reasons for retaining his four players, Kiran Kattimani, owner of Bijapur Bulls was upbeat about his team’s chances this year. “Robin Uthappa, Man of the series in 2015 is a star in T20 cricket and has been performing consistently. Abhimanyu Mithun too performed very well for us last year. He is extremely fit and bowls at over 140 kmph. Last year we retained Samarth and Cariappa as well and both are an integral part of our team,” said Kattimani
“KPL gave Cariappa his break in 2014 and he has performed very well since. We will have a winning combination this year again,” he said.
Last year’s runners-up Hubli Tigers have opted to retain Sreenath Aravind (Rs 3 lakh), Kranthi Kumar (Rs 1.8 lakh), Shivil Kaushik (Rs 65,000) and Mohammed Taha (Rs 10,000). Kaushik and Taha are a bargain buy for the Tigers.
Explaining the logic behind the retention of the four players, Sushil Jindal pointed out that “they were a combination of experience and young talent. The four will form the core of the team. We have gone for a batsman, fast bowler, spinner and an all-rounder. Aravind and Kranthi have a lot of experience while Shivil and Taha are young, talented and raring to go.”
Mangalore United retain Karun Nair
Bellary Tuskers’ owner Arvind Reddy stated that “Amit Verma (Rs 3.8 lakh) is the best left-hand batsman cum leg spinner in KPL. CA Karthik (Rs 30,000) fits into any slot in the top order as he is a dynamic player. Prasidh Krishna (Rs 90,000) has improved by leaps and bounds and is now a First Class fast bowler while Devraj Patil (Rs 10,000) who has been with us for the last three years is our good luck charm. He's a canny batsman and capable of getting quick runs.”
BM Farooq of Mangalore United said the focus was on putting together “the best combination. Karun Nair (Rs 465,750) and Ronit More (Rs 1.9 lakh) are our experienced players. BN Bharath (Rs 1.7 lakh) and Mitrakant Yadav (Rs 10,000) played really well last year and we hope that they would continue in the same vein this year.”
Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy captain and former India cricketer Vinay Kumar (Rs 4.6 lakh) has been retained by Belagavi Panthers. Joseph Hoover representing the Panthers said their retained players “brought a lot of value and hence formed the core of the team. Vinay is the best we can get in Karnataka, Mayank Agarwal (Rs 3.8 lakh) is a match winner, Praveen Dubey (Rs 2.6 lakh) is set to be one of the most exciting talents in the country and HS Sharath (Rs 50,000) is very eager to perform,” he said.
Mysuru Warriors retain Manish Pandey
Namma Shivamogga’s team owner Umapathy MS called attention to the fact that “all the four players retained, Sadiq Kirmani (Rs 1.4 lakh), Shreyas Gopal (Rs 3.1 lakh), Abrar Kazi (Rs 1.8 lakh) and KV Siddharth (Rs 60,000) are all-rounders and that would be the best for this form of cricket. We believe we have selected the right combination and we will build our team around these four players.”
Mysuru Warriors retained their star batsman Manish Pandey for Rs 3.1 lakh. He brings a lot of T20 experience and class to the top order. Another who brings IPL experience to this line-up included Suchith (Rs 90,000), a left arm spinner who has grown by leaps and bounds. K Gowtham (Rs 1.1 lakh) and Arjun Hoysala (Rs 10,000) are the other two on whom Mysuru have retained their faith.
“This year we have retained Manish Pandey, Suchith J, K Gautham and Arjun Hoysala in Mysuru Warriors for KPL’s upcoming season. We found that these players have very strong cultural fit with our team’s ethos. We would have wanted to have retained more players but would not due to the retention policy which allows only 4 players,” said Arjun Ranga, owner of Mysuru Warriors and Managing Director of Cycle Pure Agarbathies.
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