Maharaja Trophy T20 Auction | Bengaluru Blasters splurge the moolah on Chethan
The Hindu
L.R. Chethan shines in Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 auction, fetching ₹8.6 lakh for Kalyani Bengaluru Blasters.
L.R. Chethan struck gold as he was procured for a princely sum of ₹8.6 lakh by Kalyani Bengaluru Blasters in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 auction held at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday.
The 24-year-old right-hand bat, who played for Gulbarga Mystics last season, saw his price swell at the mini auction from the ₹6.2 lakh he commanded in 2023. There were also big deals for seasoned cricketers Shreyas Gopal (₹7.60 lakh, Mangaluru Dragons) and K. Gowtham (₹7.4 lakh, Mysuru Warriors). Wicketkeeper bat Luvnith Sisodia earned ₹7.20 lakh from Gulbarga.
Opening batter Mohammed Taha returned to defending champion Hubli Tigers for ₹6.60 lakh, a handsome 4.1 lakh more than his 2023 billing. The 30-year-old Taha was the player of the tournament last year, scoring 448 runs at a strike-rate of 173.64.
Another good performer in left-arm pacer Abhilash Shetty saw a rise in valuation too, shifting to Mangaluru for ₹6.3 lakh as against the ₹1 lakh he earned 12 months ago at Gulbarga. An eye-popping ₹6.2 lakh was splurged by Bengaluru on left-arm speedster Lavish Kaushal, a registered Karnataka State Cricket Association player who was in the lowest Category-D in the auction.
Karnataka’s age-group cricketers, who won the red-ball double of Cooch Behar Trophy (U-19) and Col. C.K. Nayudu Trophy (U-23), were picked up for good amounts with Hardik Raj attracting ₹5.8 lakh from Shivamogga Lions and Macneil Hadley Noronha ₹5 lakh from Mangaluru.
Aneeshwar Gautam, 21, zoomed up to ₹6.20 lakh (Hubli) from ₹2 lakh (Mangaluru), while 18-year-old Samit Dravid, son of Indian legend Rahul Dravid, was picked up by Mysuru for ₹0.5 lakh.
Oft-injured India pacer Prasidh Krishna’s value depreciated from ₹7.4 lakh to ₹1 lakh. Senior cricketer R. Samarth, who scored 422 runs at a strike-rate of 141.61 in 2023 and has since moved to Uttarakhand, skipped the auction.
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