Hard-hitting middle-order batter Abhinav Manohar unsurprisingly attracted the highest bid while Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal wasn't far behind as the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 auctions predictably saw the star players command the strongest attention from the franchises here on Saturday.
The 28-year-old Manohar, who was picked up by Gujarat Titans for Rs 2.60 crore at the IPL mega auction in 2022, saw intense bidding from Shivamogga Lions and Hubli Tigers. Even when his price surpassed Rs 14 lakh — the price which Agarwal was picked up for by Bengaluru Blasters a little while earlier — both Lions and Tigers were refusing to relent.
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The two, knowing the impact Manohar can cause, kept raising the paddle despite being aware that they only have a maximum purse of Rs 50 lakh to purchase a minimum of 16 players. When Shivamogga raised the paddle at Rs 15 lakh, Hubli think-tank huddled into a discussion before pulling out leaving the former a happy lot.
Opening batter Agarwal, an India international trying hard to find his way back into the national set-up, was tipped to be the biggest draw of the auction and he lived up to the billing. Although his base price was Rs 2 lakh, Mysore Warriors instantly declared they are bidding Rs 8 lakh for the 32-year-old. The move, in fact, shook auctioneer Charu Sharma for a second.
Even before everyone could come to their senses on the drastic spike in Agarwal’s price, Hubli declared they are splurging Rs 10 lakh for him. Mysore then raised it by a lakh before Hubli offered Rs 12 lakh. Watching all the action unfold silently, Bengaluru Blasters jumped in at 12.6 lakh which took Mysuru by surprise who pulled out at that stage. Bengaluru and Hubli then slugged it out before the former roped him in at Rs 14 lakh — the second highest purchase of the day overall.
Elite Karnataka cricketers like Devdutt Padikkal (Rs 13 lakh, Gulbarga Mystics), Manish Pandey (Rs 10.60 lakh, Hubli Tigers), Shreyas Gopal (Rs 7.80 lakh, Shivamogga Lions), Manoj Bhandage (Rs 9 lakh, Mysore Warriors), J Suchith (Rs 8.40 lakh, Mysore Warriors), Prasidh Krishna (Rs 7.40 lakh, Mysore Warriors), Karun Nair (Rs 6.80 lakh, Mysore Warriors), K Gowtham (Rs 6.60 lakh, Mangaluru Dragons), Ronit More (Rs 4.60 lakh, Mangaluru Dragons) expectedly got handsome sums.
The biggest surprise in that was the strong bidding war for Prasidh despite the pacer still recovering from an injury. Even the BCCI injury update on Prasidh and Jasprit Bumrah on Friday said they are in “final stages of their rehab and are bowling with full intensity in the nets.” So going big on Prasidh despite Charu’s warning when his name came up for bidding was surprising.
Amongst talented youngsters, Nikin Jose (Rs 7 lakh, Mangaluru Dragons) and Vidhyadhir Patil (Rs 7 lakh, Bengaluru Blasters) were the biggest earners.
The tournament will kick off on August 13 with the final scheduled for Aug 29 with all matches to be played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Players sold
Bengaluru Blasters: Mayank Agarwal (Rs 14 lakhs), Vidyadhar Patil (Rs 7 lakhs), Abhimanyu Mithun (Rs 5.2 lakhs), Shubhang Hegde (Rs 4.30 lakhs), Pavan Deshpande (Rs 4 lakhs), Pradeep T (Rs 3.50 lakhs), Jeshwanth Acharya (Rs 2.10 lakhs), Mohammed Sarfaraz Ashraf (Rs 1.60 lakhs), Nischal D (Rs 1.30 lakhs), Kumar LR (Rs 1.10 lakhs), Rishi Bopanna (Rs 70,000), Jasper EJ (Rs 50,000), Mohsin Khan (Rs 50,000), Ashish Mahesh (Rs 50,000), Abhishek Ahlawat (Rs 50,000), Aman F Khan (Rs 50,000), Suraj Abuja (Rs 25,000), Aaron Christie (Rs 25,000). Amount spent: Rs 47.80 lakhs.
Gulbarga Mystics: Devdutt Padikkal (Rs 13 lakhs), Vyshak Vijaykumar (Rs 8.80 lakhs), Chethan LR (Rs 6.20 lakhs), Avinash D (Rs 5.30 lakhs), KP Appanna (Rs 4 lakhs), Smaran R (Rs 3.15 lakhs), Macneil Noronha (Rs 1.40 lakhs), Hardik Raj (Rs 1.10 lakh), Sharath Srinivas (Rs 1 lakh), Aneesh KV (Rs 1.10 lakh), Abhilash Shetty (Rs 1 lakh), Sharan Goud (Rs 50,000), Mohammad Aqib Jawad (Rs 50,000), Shimon Luiz (Rs 50,000), Yashovardhan Parantap (Rs 50,000), Aadarsh Prajwal (Rs 50,000), Abdul Hasan Khalid (Rs 50,000), Shaun Tristan Joseph (Rs 50,000). Amount spent: Rs 49.55 lakhs.
Mysore Warriors: Manoj Bhandage (Rs 9 lakhs), J Suchith (8.40 lakh), Prasidh Krishna (Rs 7.40 lakhs), Karun Nair (Rs 6.80 lakhs), Karthik CA (Rs 4.20 lakhs), Venkatesh M (Rs 4.10 lakhs), R Samarth (Rs 2.90 lakhs), Rakshith S (Rs 2.10 lakh), Shoaib Manager (Rs 1 lakh), Tushar Singh (Rs 50,000), Monish Reddy (Rs 55,000), Kushal Wadhwani (Rs 50,000), Shashi Kumar K (Rs 50,000), Gautam Mishra (Rs 25,000), Aditya Mani (Rs 25,000), Rahul Singh Rawat (Rs 25,000), Bharat Duri (Rs 25,000), Shreesha S Achar (Rs 25,000). Amount spent: Rs 49.20 lakhs.
Hubli Tigers: Manish Pandey (Rs 10.60 lakhs), KC Cariappa (Rs 7.20 lakhs), Luvnith Sisodia (Rs 7.10 lakhs), Vidwath Kaverappa (Rs 6.70 lakhs), Praveen Dubey (Rs 5.80 lakhs), Mohammed Taha (Rs 2.50 lakhs), Shrijith KL (Rs 2.10 lakhs), Darshan MB (Rs 2 lakhs), Naga Bharath (Rs 1.30 lakh), Manvanth Kumar L (Rs 60,000), Mohith BA (Rs 55,000), Shivam MB (Rs 50,000), Santokh Singh (Rs 50,000), Mitrakant Singh Yadav (Rs 25,000), Malliksab G (Rs 25,000), Nathan D’Mello (Rs 25,000), Rajshekar Harikant (Rs 25,000), Clement Raju (Rs 25,000). Amount spent: Rs 48.70 lakhs.
Shivamogga Lions: Abhinav Manohar (Rs 15 lakhs), Shreyas Gopal (Rs 7.80 lakhs), V Koushik (Rs 5.90 lakhs), Rohan Kadam (Rs 4.70 lakhs), Kranthi Kumar (Rs 3.60 lakhs), HS Sharath (Rs 2.60 lakhs), Pranav Bhatia (Rs 2.20 lakhs), Nihal Ullal (Rs 2.10 lakhs), Shivraj S (Rs 1.10 lakh), Aditya Somanna (Rs 50,000), Shreyas Puranik (Rs 50,000), Vinay N Sagar (Rs 50,000), Nishchith N Rao (Rs 50,000), Adhoksh Hegde (Rs 50,000), Pavan Shirdi (Rs 25,000), Rohit Kumar K (Rs 25,000), Rohan Naveen (Rs 25,000), Deepak Devadiga (Rs 25,000). Amount spent: Rs 48.50 lakhs.
Mangaluru Dragons: Nikin Jose (Rs 7 lakhs), K Gowtham (Rs 6.60 lakhs), Ronit More (Rs 4.60 lakhs), KV Siddharth (Rs 4.40 lakhs), Rohan Patil (Rs 3.70 lakhs), Sharath BR (Rs 3.2 lakh), Prateek Jain (Rs 3 lakhs), Aniruddha Joshi (Rs 3 lakhs), Aditya Goyal (Rs 2 lakhs), Aneeshwar Gautam (Rs 2 lakh), Kruthik Krishna (Rs 1.20 lakhs), Aaditya Nair (Rs 1.10 lakh), Naveen MG (Rs 1 lakh), Gaurav Dhiman (Rs 1 lakh), Shivakumar BU (Rs 1 lakh), Anand Dodamanni (Rs 95,000), Dheeraj J Gowda (Rs 80,000), Thippa Reddy (Rs 50,000). Amount spent: Rs 47.05 lakhs.