Bengaluru, July 25 : The player auction for the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 tournament, held at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, saw Chethan LR emerge as the most expensive player, joining the Bengaluru Blasters with the highest bid of Rs 8.2 lakh on Thursday.

From a pool of 240 players, other significant acquisitions included Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, and J. Suchith. Among the standout young talents, the Mysore Warriors secured the promising 18-year-old Samit Dravid for Rs 50,000. Additionally, Luvnith Sisodia, Mohd. Taha and Lavish Kaushal also commanded impressive bids as each of them were sold far above their base prices.

In Category A, which includes Indian and IPL players, the auction saw some exciting bids. The seasoned Shreyas Gopal's versatile skills were highly valued by Mangaluru Dragons, fetching Rs 7.6 lakh and making him the most expensive purchase within the category.

The Mysore Warriors made notable acquisitions with the experienced all-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham for Rs 7.4 lakh, the southpaw all-rounder J. Suchith for Rs 4.8 lakh, and pacer Prasidh Krishna, who is not at full fitness, for Rs 1 lakh. The crafty leg-spinner K.C Cariappa was secured by the Hubli Tigers for Rs 4.2 lakh, and Praveen Dubey went to the Gulbarga Mystics for Rs 6.8 lakh. Wicketkeeper-batter Sharath B.R, who is still recovering, was also snapped up by Gulbarga Mystics for Rs 1 lakh.

Among the big purchases in Category B, which includes senior state players, Chethan LR emerged as the most expensive player of the auction, commanding a price of Rs 8.2 lakh from the Bengaluru Blasters. Luvnith Sisodia, one of last season's top scorers, was acquired by Gulbarga Mystics for Rs 7.2 lakh to bolster a formidable batting lineup that already features Devdutt Padikkal.

The explosive Mohd Taha returned to Hubli Tigers with a price tag of Rs 6.6 lakh, while the 23-year-old speedster Vidyadhar Patil was in high demand and eventually secured by Mysore Warriors for Rs 6.4 lakh. In Category C, Goutham Mishra joined Mysore Warriors for Rs 2 lakh.

Meanwhile, the prolific Smaran R returned to Gulbarga Mystics for Rs 3.15 lakh. Bowling all-rounder Avinash D was a significant acquisition for Shivamogga Lions at Rs 5.4 lakh, along with Rajvir Wadhwa for Rs 2.2 lakh. The Gulbarga Mystics also added pacer Monish Reddy and all-rounder Yashovardhan Parantap, each for Rs 1.8 lakh. Additionally, Hubli Tigers bought Thippa Reddy for Rs 3.4 lakh and Karthikeya KP for Rs 1.2 lakh.

Left-arm pacer Lavish Kaushal was the most notable acquisition in Category D, joining Bengaluru Blasters for Rs 6.2 lakhs. The Shivamogga Lions were aggressive in this category, securing several players including Aditya Mani for Rs 1 lakh, and Bharath Dhuri, Aadithya Vishwa Karma, and Rohan Naveen, each for Rs 25,000.

Hubli Tigers acquired Shreesha S. Acahar for Rs 2.3 lakh. Gulbarga Mystics' expensive purchase in Category D was Nathan Dmello Joachim at Rs 60,000 while Deepak Devadiga was picked up by the Mysore Warriors for Rs 65,000.

Speaking on the purchase of Chethan LR, Bengaluru Blasters' captain, Mayank Agarwal said, 'We are very happy to have Chethan LR with as a part of our squad. He was a treasured find for the Bengaluru Blasters during the first season of the Maharaja Trophy and I am looking forward to playing with him this season.'

The third edition of the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 is scheduled to begin on August 15. The tournament will be broadcast on Star Sports 2, StarSports Kannada and streamed on FanCode.

Team squads:

Hubli Tigers: Manish Pandey, Shrijith KL, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Manvanth Kumar L, Cariappa KC, Mohammed Taha, Thippa Reddy, Karthikeya KP, Kumar LR, Aadarsh Prajwal, Kruthik Krishna, Aneeshwar Gautam, Madhav Prakash Bajaj, Shreesha S Acahar, Daman Deep Singh, Mitrakant Yadav, Nishchith Pai, Rishi Bopanna.

Mysore Warriors: Karun Nair, Karthik CA, Manoj Bhandage, Karthik S U, Suchith J, Gowtham K, Vidyadhar Patil, Venkatesh M, Harshil Dharmani, Goutham Mishra, Dhanush Gowda, Samit Dravid, Deepak Devadiga, Sumit Kumar, Smayan Srivastava, Jasper EJ, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Sarfaraz Ashraf.

Shivamogga Lions: Abhinav Manohar, Nihal Ullal, Koushik V, Shivaraj S, Pradeep T, Hardik Raj, Dhruv Prabhakar, Anand Doddamani, Rajvir Wadhwa, Avinash D, Dheeraj Mohan, Bharath Dhuri, Aadithya Vishwa Karma, Aditya Mani, Rohit K, Rohan Naveen, Sharath HS, Mohith BA.

Gulbarga Mystics: Devdutt Padikkal, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Smaran R, Aneesh KV, Pravin Dubey, Luvnith Sisodia, Sharath BR, Aaditya Nair, Monish Reddy, Sharan Goud, Yashovardhan Parantap, Nathan Dmello Joachim, Faizan Riaz, Ritesh Bhatkal, Wahid Faizan Khan, Abhishek Prabhakar, Prithvi Shekhawat, Shimon Luiz.

Bengaluru Blasters: Shubhang Hegde, Mayank Agarwal, Mohsin Khan, Suraj Ahuja, Anirudha Joshi, Naveen MG, Prateek Jain, Chethan LR, Melu Kranthi Kumar, Santokh Singh, Aditya Goyal, Rakshith S, Varun Rao TN, Niranjan Naik, Lavish Kaushal, Varun Kumar HC, Shikhar Shetty, Bheem Rao Navale.

Mangaluru Dragons: Rohan Patil, Paras Gurbax Arya, Siddharth KV, Nikin Jose, Shreyas Gopal, Dheeraj J Gowda, Darshan MB, Macneil Hadley Noronha, Tushar Singh, Lankesh KS, Samarth Nagaraj, Sankalp SS, Abhilash Shetty, Nischith Rao, Lochan S Gowda, Pranav Bhatia, Sanjay Ashwin, Sagar Solanki.

/IANS