Indian Cricketers Robin Uthappa and Abhimanyu Mithun attracted high bids in the Karnataka Premier League auction that took place on Saturday, July 21.

Robin Uthappa, a proven T20 performer for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, went to Bengaluru Blasters for 7.9 lakh rupees. While the 8.3 lakh Shivamogga Lions shelled out for Mithun was a record for the KPL auction. 

M. Nidish also went big in the auction this year, as he topped the Pool B money list with a price of 5.85 lakh, which is 23 times over his actual base price. Nidish is an attacking batsman with the ability to hit from one ball and that ensured a lot of attraction towards him from all the franchises. 

The other big development that transpired from the auction when owing to their likely India-A and Duleep Trophy commitments, well known Karnataka players like K. Gowtham, Mayank Agarwal, R. Samarth, Prasidh Krishna and Shreyas Gopal were all initially ignored but the franchises eventually took the risk and selected three of them for decent prices and only two of these Pool A players - Gopal and Samarth - went unsold.

Meanwhile, Opener Md. Taha for (5 lakh to Hubli Tigers) and medium-pacers T. Pradeep (6.5 lakh to Ballari Tuskers), H.S. Sharath (4.3 lakh to Belagavi Panthers) and Prateek Jain (4.3 lakh to Mysuru Warriors) were other big purchases from Pool A. Stalwarts like K.B. Pawan (4.55 lakh to Bengaluru Blasters), Arjun Hoysala (3.10 lakh to Mysuru Warriors), Suneel Raju (3.50 lakh to Bijapur Bulls), K.P. Appanna (3.85 lakh to Bijapur Bulls) and Abrar Kazi (3.50 lakh to Ballari Tuskers) were all in demand, showing that franchises placed great value on their experience. 

The newest edition of the Karnataka Premier League starts on August 15. 

(Inputs from SPORTSTAR Live)