Manish Pandey, Devdutt Padikkal to represent Gulbarga Mystics

BENGALURU: The players draft for the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 tournament marked a new beginning for the tournament, which was earlier the franchise-based Karnataka Premier League. The player auction made way for a transparent draft system through which first the coaches and then the players for six teams were picked here on Saturday.
In category A 13 players, who have played the Indian Premier League and represented India, came up in the draft.
The order of teams too was decided by the draw of lots and Mysore Warriors got the first choice. Coach PV Shashikanth did not bat an eyelid before picking Karun Nair as the first player and he was joined by Shreyas Gopal. Amongst the marquee players, Mayank Agarwal, J Suchith and Ronit More were snapped up by Kalyani Bengaluru Blasters, while Manish Pandey and Devdutt Padikkal were picked by Gulbarga Mystics. Spin duo K Gowtham and KC Cariappa went to Shivamogga Strikers, while Abhinav Manohar found a home with Mangalore United. Seasoned pacer Abhimanyu Mithun was taken by Hubli Tigers. Spinners KP Appanna and Shivil Kaushik found no takers.
Performance in KSCA leagues, especially in white-ball cricket, was a decisive factor in team compositions. Also rewarded were consistent performers in the U-19 and U-25 BCCI competitions last season. Each team picked 18 players and will pick the mandatory two players from their catchment areas on Sunday.
The tournament will get underway in Mysuru on August 7 and 16 matches will be played there. The action then moves to the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru from August 16, where 18 matches, including the final on August 27 will be played.
TEAMS: Kalyani Bengaluru Blasters: Mayank Agarwal, Suchith J, Anirudha Joshi, Pradeep T, Kranthi Kumar, Chetan LR, Aneesh KV, Kumar LR, Rakshith S, Rishi Bopanna, Santok Singh, Suraj Ahuja (WK), P Gurbax Arya, Lochan Gowda, Ronit More, Shaun Tristan Joseph, Kush Marate, Tanay Walmik. Support staff: Naziruddin T (coach), Pavan K B (assistant coach), Ragotham Navli (selector), Pradeep Kumar (video analyst)
The Hubli Tigers: Abhimanyu Mithun, Luvnith Sisodia (WK), Koushik V, Liyan Khan, Naveen MG, Anand Doddamani, Shivkumar BU, Tushar Singh, Akshan Rao, Zahoor Farooqi, Rohan Naveen, Saurav Srivastav, Sagar Solanki (WK), Gowtham Sagar, Roshan Ashwathiah, Rahul Singh Rawat, Shishir Bhawane, Sharan Goud. Support staff: Deepak Chougle (coach), Raju Bhatkal (assistant coach), Anand Katti (selector), Shashikumar (video analyst).
Gulbarga Mystics: Manish Pandey, Devdutt Padikkal, Karthik CA, Manoj Bhandage, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kruthik Krishna, Abhilash Shetty, Kushaal M Wadhwani, Pranav Bhatia, Shrijith KL (WK), Ritesh Bhatkal, Mohit BA, Rohan Patil, Dhanush Gowda, Mohammed Aqib Jawad, Shreesha Achar, Jeshwanth Acharya, Aaron Christie. Support staff: Mansur Ali Khan (coach), Rajashekar Shanbal (assistant coach), Santosh V (selector), Sachidananda (video analyst).
Mangalore United: Abhinav Manohar, Samarth R, Vyshak V, Amit Verma, Venkatesh M, Aneeshwar Gautam, Sujay Sateri, Rohith Kumar AC, Macneil Noronha, Sharath HS, Shashi Kumar K, Nikin Jose SJ, Raghuveer Pavalur, Amogh S, Chinmay NA, Aditya Somanna, Yashovardhan Parantap, Dheeraj Gowda. Support staff: Stuart Binny (coach), C Raghavendra (assistant coach), MV Prasanth (selector), P Rajeev (video analyst).
Shivamogga Strikers: K Gowtham, KC Cariappa, Rohan Kadam, Siddharth KV, Darshan MB, Stalin Hoover, Avinash D, Smaran R, Sharath BR (WK), Rajvir Wadhwa, Rajendra Danganavar, Utham Aiyappa, Chaitanya S, Shreyas BM, KS Devaiah, Vinay Sagar, Shreyas SP, Punith S. Support staff: Nikhil Haldipur (coach), Aditya Sagar (assistant coach), A R Mahesh (selector), Sharath (video analyst)
Mysore Warriors: Karun Nair, Shreyas Gopal, Shubhang Hegde, Pavan Deshpande, Vidyadhar Patil, Nihal Ullal, Prateek Jain, Lochan Appanna, Chiranjeevi GS, Naga Bharath, Bharath Duri, Shivraj S, Monish Reddy, Varun Rao TN, Rahul Prasanna, Nitin Bhille, Aditya Goyal, Abhishek Ahlawat. Support staff: PV Shashikanth (coach), SL Akshay (assistant coach), KL Ashwath (selector), Kiran T (video analyst).