ENARADA, Bangalore, August 8, 2014
The much-awaited player auction for the coveted Karbonn Wadiyar Karnataka Premier League (2014) was held with the franchises bidding for top players for the T20 format tournament being organised by the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) this year.
Robin Uthappa fetched the highest bid of Rs 530,000 with Bellary Tuskers picking him for the squad. The second highest bid of Rs 500,000 was for Abhimanyu Mithun and he was picked by Bijapur Bulls. The third highest bid of Rs 400,000 was for Bharath Chipli and Belagavi Panthers was successful in roping him into their team.
This year’s tournament is set to commence three weeks from now and the bidding was the most awaited moment. All the six franchises were seen adopting strategic moves to pick important players, who will form the right fit for their teams.
The KSCA provided the list of cricketers, who were divided in two groups – Pool A and Pool B – for the auction. The Pool A consisted of 28 top players from Karnataka and the six competing franchises were invited to place their bids from this list. Also the continuing three franchises have had the option to retain one player each from Pool A and Pool B, respectively.
The minimum bid amount for a Pool A player is Rs 50, 000 per season and the total cap for this pool is Rs 12, 00,000 per season. The minimum bid amount for a Pool B player is Rs 10,000 per season and the total cap for this pool is Rs 8,00,000 per season.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr.Brijesh Patel, Secretary, KSCA said “The player auctions for the Karbonn Wadiyar Karnataka Premier League 2014 was an exciting session and there were some tense moments, as the franchises made an all-out effort to bid for the most-wanted-players to constitute the best playing squad. The players have been picked with specific emphasis on how their strengths could contribute to the overall performance of the team. The bids for batsmen, bowlers and all rounders saw a good tussle among the franchises. We can see the interest around the tournament rise this season across all levels – players and franchises included. We truly believe that the league will once again help us identify and hone upcoming cricketing talent as it has in the past as well.”
On this occasion, KSCA announced Karbonn Mobiles as the title sponsor for the Wadiyar Karnataka Premier League 2014 along with Sangeetha Mobiles & Cycle Agarbatti as associate sponsors for the league.
