Bengaluru, June 04, 2026: A star-studded player pool featuring Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal and Manish Pandey will headline the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 Season 5 Player Auction, set to take place in Bengaluru on June 5. With more than 150 cricketers available for selection and all six franchises entering the auction with a full purse of INR 60 lakh, teams will have plenty of options as they build their squads for the upcoming season.
Each franchise will assemble a squad comprising a minimum of 16 and a maximum of 18 players acquired through the auction, in addition to two mandatory Catchment Area Players.
Players have been classified into five pools — A, B, C, D and E — with base prices of INR 2 lakh, INR 1 lakh, INR 50,000, INR 75,000 and INR 30,000 respectively. Franchises are required to acquire at least 12 players from Pools A, B and C combined.
Pool A features India and IPL cricketers and carries a base price of INR 2 lakh. Alongside the marquee names, players such as Vyshak Vijaykumar, Smaran R and Yashraj Punja — who emerged as the leading wicket-taker in the previous season with 26 wickets — are among the sought-after prospects. The pool also includes top performers from previous editions such as Abhinav Manohar, Vidwath Kaverappa and Sharath BR.
Pool B comprises all cricketers who have represented Karnataka’s senior state side in any format under the age of 30 and carries a base price of INR 1 lakh. The pool features a strong crop of domestic performers including Chethan LR, Hardik Raj, Luvnith Sisodia, Macneil Noronha, Manvanth Kumar L, Aneesh KV, Nikin Jose, Shubhang Hegde and Abhilash Shetty.
Pool C comprises players under the age of 30 who have represented Karnataka at the Junior level and carries a base price of INR 50,000. Among the notable names in this pool are Harshil Dharmani, Karthik SU, Aadarsh Prajwal, Anvay Dravid, Aneeshwar Gautam and Samit Dravid.
Pool D features players aged between 30 and 35 who have represented the senior state team and carry a base price of INR 75,000. Experienced campaigners such as Mohd Taha, Koushik V, Melu Kranthi Kumar and Nihal Ullal feature in this pool. Franchises will only be permitted to field two players from this category in their playing XI.
Pool E consists of all other KSCA-registered cricketers under the age of 30 who have been shortlisted by the State Selection Committee and carries a base price of INR 30,000.
In addition to their auction selections, all franchises must pick two players from their designated catchment areas.
Looking ahead, franchises will be permitted to retain up to four players from their 2026 squad for the following season, subject to KSCA registration, eligibility requirements and inclusion in the approved player pool.
The fifth edition of the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 will be played from June 20 to July 12 across Mysuru, Hubballi and Bengaluru, featuring six franchises — Coastal Kings Mangaluru, Gulbarga Mystics, Hubli Tigers, Kalyani Bengaluru Blasters, Mysore Warriors and Shivamogga Yodhas — competing for top honours in Karnataka’s premier domestic T20 competition.
The auction will be streamed live on KSCA YouTube and Instagram channels from 10 am tomorrow.
