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Bengaluru, July 20 (HS). Ahead of the third season of the Shriram Capital Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has released the list of players retained by the six franchises. Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Abhinav Manohar and Vyshak Vijaykumar are among the stars retained by the players.
The tournament, scheduled to be held from August 15 to September 1 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, will see defending champions Hubli Tigers, runners-up Mysore Warriors, Gulbarga Mystics, Bengaluru Blasters, Mangaluru Dragons and Shivamogga Lions compete for the title. Each franchise exercised their right to retain four players from their previous season's squad ahead of the player auction scheduled for July 25, 2024.
Defending champions Hubli Tigers retained the services of captain Manish Pandey, wicketkeeper Sreejith KL and young all-rounder Manwant Kumar, who returned from the championship season with Kolkata Knight Riders. Medium pacer Vidwath Kavarappa will also lead the bowling attack of Hubli Tigers.
It is worth mentioning that Manish Pandey and Sreejith KL were among the top five run scorers last season, while Manwant Kumar was the highest wicket taker. Last year's runners-up Mysore Warriors preferred a strong top order by retaining last season's top scorer and captain Karun Nair, explosive CA Karthik and the prodigious SU Karthik.
Aggressive all-rounder Manoj Bhandage will also play for Mysore Warriors once again. Left-arm pacer Devdutt Paddikal had to miss Gulbarga Mystics' last campaign due to injury, but he is returning this season to strengthen the Mystics' batting. Royal Challengers Bangalore fast bowler Vyshank Vijaykumar along with batsmen Smran Ravi and Anish KV have also been retained in the team.
Shivamogga Lions have retained Abhinav Manohar who was also the most expensive player in last year's auction with a price of 15 lakhs. Apart from this, Nihal Ullal and Shivaraj are also back to provide the Lions with a strong batting line up. Experienced medium pacer Vasuki Kaushik has also been retained by Shivamogga Lions.
Mangaluru Dragons will have the return of top-order batsman Nikkin Jose, who missed most of the matches last season due to NCA commitments. Rohan Patil, Siddharth KV and Paras Gurbax Arya complete the list of retained players.
Although Bengaluru Blasters had a cold season last year, their retained players include experienced openers Mayank Agarwal, Suraj Ahuja, all-rounders Shubhangi Hegde and Mohsin Khan.
BK Sampath Kumar, Commissioner of the Maharaja's Trophy and Vice President of KSCA, expressed his excitement for the upcoming season, saying, “We are eagerly looking forward to another exciting season of the Maharaja's Trophy. Player retention is a key part of our franchise model, which was introduced last year. This continuity allows each team to build a strong culture and identity while retaining some of their key players.”