CRICKET | Big bucks chase Abhinav, Mayank and Padikkal in Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 auction

Abhinav Manohar, Mayank Agarwal and Devdutt Padikkal walked away with the big bucks, bought by Shivamogga Lions, Kalyani Bengaluru Blasters and Gulbarga Mystics for ₹15 lakh, ₹14 lakh and ₹13 lakh respectively, in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 auction held at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday.

Abhinav has played two seasons of Indian Premier League cricket for Gujarat Titans and impressed with a strike-rate in excess of 140. Mayank and Padikkal are proven India internationals and IPL stars, with the latter even part of the victorious Mystics squad that won the trophy last year.

Manish Pandey was picked up by Hubli Tigers for ₹10.6 lakh, while J. Suchith was bagged by Mysore Warriors for 8.4 lakh. All-rounder Manoj Bhandage, who was part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore set-up in 2023 but didn’t get a game, was sold to the Warriors for a princely sum of ₹9 lakh.

There were sizeable deals for breakout Karnataka stars from the 2022-23 season — V. Vyshak (₹8.8 lakh, Mystics), Nikin Jose (₹7 lakh, Mangaluru Dragons) and Vidwath Kaverappa (₹6.7 lakh, Tigers).

Prasidh Krishna of Rajasthan Royals Bowling during the Qualifier 2 match of the TATA Indian Premier League 2022 (IPL season 15) between the Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore held at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on the 27th May 2022.
| Photo Credit:
IPL / Sportzpics

The surprise of the day was in the Warriors shelling out ₹7.4 lakh for pacer Prasidh Krishna. Though a top-draw cricketer and an India international, Prasidh has not played a competitive game since August 2022 because of a stress facture.

On Friday however, the BCCI provided an update which stated that Prasidh was in his final stage of rehab and was bowling with full intensity in the nets.

The Maharaja Trophy gets underway in Bengaluru on August 13.

The teams (player worth in lakhs): Gulbarga Mystics: Devdutt Padikkal (13), K.P. Appanna (4), V. Vyshak (8.8), Sharath Srinivas (1), L.R. Chethan (6.2), Mohammed Aqib Jawad (0.5), R. Smaran (3.15), K.V. Aneesh (1.1), Macneil Noronha (1.4), Sharan Goud (0.5), Abhilash Shetty (1), Hardik Raj (1.1), Shimon Luiz (0.5), D. Avinash (5.3), Yashovardhan Parantap (0.5), Aadarsh Prajwal (0.5), Abul Hasan Khalid (0.5), Shaun Tristan Joseph (0.5).

Hubli Tigers: K.C. Cariappa (7.2), Pravin Dubey (5.8), Manish Pandey (10.6), Luvnith Sisodia (7.1), K.L. Shrijith (2.1), Mohammed Taha (2.5), Vidhwath Kaverappa (6.7), M.B. Darshan (2), M.B. Shivam (0.5), Naga Bharath (1.3), Santokh Singh (0.5), B.A. Mohith (0.55), L. Manvanth Kumar (0.6), Mitrakant Singh Yadav (0.25), G. Malliksab (0.25), Nathan D’ Mello (0.25), Rakshekar Harikant (0.25), Clement Raju (0.25).

Shivamogga Lions: Abhinav Manohar (15), Shreyas Gopal (7.8), Nihal Ullal (2.1), V. Koushik (5.9), H.S. Sharath (2.6), Kranthi Kumar (3.6), Rohan Kadam (4.7), Shreyas Puranik (0.5, Pranav Bhatia (2.2, Vinay Sagar (0.5), Aditya Somanna (0.5), Adhoksh Hegde (0.5), Pavan Shridi (0.25), Rohan Naveen (0.25), Shivaraj (1.1), K. Rohit Kumar (0.25), Nischith Rao (0.5), Deepak Devadiga (0.25).

Mysore Warriors: Karun Nair (6.8), J. Suchith (8.4), Prasidh Krishna (7.4), Shoaib Manager (1), R. Samarth (2.9), C.A. Karthik (4.2), Manoj Bhandage (9), M. Venkatesh (4.1), Tushar Singh (0.5), Kushal Wadhwani (0.5), K. Shashi Kumar (0.5), S. Rakshith (2.1), Shreesha S. Achar (0.25), Monish Reddy (0.55), Aditya Mani (0.25), Gautam Mishra (0.25), Rahul Singh Rawat (0.25), Bharath Dhuri (0.25).

Kalyani Bengaluru Blasters: A. Mithun (5.2), Mayank Agarwal (14), T. Pradeep (3.5), Mohammed Sarfaraz Ashraf (1.6), Pavan Deshpande (4), Shubhang Hegde (4.3), D. Nishchal (1.3), Vidyadhar Patil (7), Jeshwanth Acharya (2.1), E.J. Jasper (0.5), L.R. Kumar (1.1), Mohsin Khan (0.5), Aashish Mahesh (0.5), Rishi Bopanna (0.7), Suraj Ahuja (0.25), Aaron Christie (0.25), Abhishek Ahlawat (0.5), Aman Khan (0.5).

Mangaluru Dragons: Ronit More (4.6), Krishnappa Gowtham (6.6), K.V. Siddharth (4.4), Nikin Jose (7), B.R. Sharath (3.2), Prateek Jain (3), Anirudha Joshi (3), Rohan Patil (3.7), Gaurav Dhiman (1), B.U. Shivakumar (1), Thippa Reddy (0.5), Aaditya Nair (1.1), Aditya Goyal (2), Anand Doddamani (0.95), Kruthik Krishna (1.2), M.G. Naveen (1), Dheeraj J. Gowda (0.8), Aneeshwar Gautam (2).