KL Rahul and Karun Nair traded in KPL 2017 auction

The auctions for the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) season 5 kicked off in Bangalore, with key players such as KL Rahul and Karun Nair traded in the auction. Bellary Tuskers the champions of the previous edition kicked off the auctions with the opening purchase of the Indian opener Rahul, who was bought at just fifty thousand rupees, much to the surprise of the audience in the auction room.

The Indian opener has been in tremendous form recently, with him being the to-go batsman for the Indian skipper Virat Kohli. The champions captured the right-handed batsman early in the auction, while Indian middle-order batsman Karun Nair went for a massive 4 lakh to the Mysuru Warriors.

The reason for the price would depend on the availability of the player for the tournament, while KL Rahul will be representing the national team it isn’t certain how many matches he would be a part of. Karun, on the other hand, was a part of the Test team in the last few series but isn’t with them in Sri Lanka and might as well be available for a major part of the KPL. The highest bid till now is Gautham K and Amit Verma, who have been bought for Rs.7.2 lakh.

Pandey gets 1.6L

Another Indian batsman Manish Pandey, however, on the other hand, went for a meagre amount of Rs. 1.6 lakhs. Pandey is at the moment leading the India A team in South Africa and with a long home schedule full of limited-overs matches for the Indian team Pandey will be on national duty as well.

All the six other teams – Bijapur Bulls, Belagavi Panthers, Bellary Tuskers, Hubli Tigers, Mysuru Warriors and Namma Shivamogga have retained their franchise rights for the next five years. The sixth season is set to kick-start on September 1 with the opening game at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Apart from Bengaluru, Mysuru and Hubli will be the other venues where the KPL matches will be hosted.