KPL 2018 auction: Full list of updated squads and team analysis

The auctions ahead of the 2018 edition of the Karnataka Premier League, which is slated to start next month witnessed some thrilling action as the seven teams in the fray indulged in some heated bidding that saw the likes of pacer Abhimanyu Mithun (₹8.3 lakh), Robin Uthappa (₹7.9 lakh) and seasoned all-rounder Amit Verma (₹7.6 lakh) emerging as the top three costliest buys on the day.

The left-arm spinners had a field day as 17-year old Shubhang Hegde joined his senior statesmen K.P Appanna, Suneel Raju and Abrar Kazi as all the four crossed the ₹3 crore mark while it was not all rosy as big guns Krishnappa Gowtham, Mayank Agarwal were procured for a paltry sum of ₹25,000 owing to the dilemma over their availability for the tournament.

Pacer T Pradeep (₹6.9 lakh), hard-hitting batsman Jonathan R (₹5.45 lakh) and Bijapur Bulls' batting mainstay from last season Mohanram Nidesh (₹5.85 lakh) also earned fat contracts as the auction had its fair share of action and surprises. Here is an analysis of how the squads shape up for the upcoming season of the league.

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Belagavi Panthers

Belagavi Panthers are the defending champions

Team: Manish Pandey (R), Stuart Binny (R), Stalin Hoover (R), Avinash D (R), Mohanram Nidhesh, Dikshankshu Negi, Shubhang Hegde, Rakshith S, Nikin Jose, Saurabh Yadav, Prashant S, Sadiq Kirmani, Darshan Machaiah, Shreyas BM, Akshay Ballal, Aman Khan.

One of the biggest positives for the defending champions will be the availability of middle-order bat Manish Pandey, who has enjoyed tremendous success with the Indian team and will be a vital contributor to the Panthers. Stuart Binny and Stalin Hoover, two of the best all-rounders in the domestic circuit and the Panthers' lead run-getters last season were also retained while Avinash D's outstanding run last season with the ball, including a hat-trick in the semifinals saw the Panthers retain faith in their pacer.

In the auctions, the Panthers managed to add more firepower to their middle-order in the form of Mohanram Nidesh, who made a name for himself with the Bijapur Bulls last season and aggressive right-hand batsman Dikshankshu Negi while in young Shubhang Hegde, they have a reliable spinner to bank on.

Youngsters in Rakshith S and Sadiq Kirmani will undoubtedly strengthen the batting order while useful additions in the form of Aman Khan and Akshay Ballal could well put the Panthers in the path of another title victory.

Ballari Tuskers

Cm Gautam's form will be vital for Ballari

Team: CM Gautam (R), Abhinav Manohar (R), Devdutt Paddikal (R), Rohan Kadam (R), T Pradeep, Abrar Kazi, Swapnil Yelave, SL Akshay, Ritesh Bhatkal, Chiranjeevi, D Nischal, Satish Bharadwaj, C A Karthik, Rajat Hegde, Manjesh Reddy NV, Rohit Sabharwal.

The Tuskers seemed to have gone into the auctions with a clear strategy in mind, which was to strengthen their bowling unit having retained a quartet of batsmen through C.M Gautam, Abhinav Manohar, Rohan Kadam and teenage sensation Devdutt Paddikkal.

For what it was worth, the Tuskers managed to procure some excellent bowling talent in the form of pacer T Pradeep (₹6.5 lakh) who finished as the third highest wicket-taker last season, S.L Akshay (₹2.2 lakh) and seasoned left-arm spinner Abrar Kazi (₹3.5 lakh). Joining Kazi will also be Ritesh Bhatkal (₹1.7 lakh) who will hope to share the spinning duties. Dega Nischal, who has contributed in vital proportions in the domestic scenario can also prove to be a promising addition to the batting order.

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Bijapur Bulls

Bijapur will hope to go past the final hurdle in the upcoming season

Team: Bharath Chipli (R), Ronit More (R), Naveen MG (R), KC Cariappa (R), Mir Kaunian Abbas, KP Appanna, Suneel Raju, Naga Bharath, Zahoor Farooqui, Suraj Kamath, Rishab Singh, Bhavesh Gulecha, Anuraj Bajpai, KL Srijith, Amar Ghale, Majid Makkandar, Ruthraj.

Having let go of top batters Mohanram Nidish and Mohammad Taha, the Bulls opted to retain talismanic skipper Bharath Chipli, their second highest run-getter from the previous edition while pacers Ronit More and Naveen MG's services were retained alongside that of mystery spinner KC Cariappa.

In an approach to add more teeth to their middle order, the 2017 edition's finalists buy of Mir Kaunian Abbas and Suneel Raju can help stabilize the middle order in the company of Naga Bharath, who had a good outing with the Panthers last season with 121 runs from eight matches.

KP Appanna, the left arm orthodox spinner who has acres of experience under his belt was purchased for a sum of ₹3.85 lakh and his bag of tricks will be vital for the Bulls who will also bank on medium pacer Zahoor Farooqui to continue from where he left off last season when he picked seven wickets from five games.

Hubli Tigers

Abhishek Sakuja will look to pick up from where he left last season

Team: R Vinay Kumar (R), Abhishek Reddy (R), Abhishek Sakuja (R), Praveen Dubey (R), Melu Kranti Kumar, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammad Taha, Vidyadhar Patil, Nitin Bhille, Anil IG, Rahul Naik, Sunil Jain, Vidwath Kaverappa, Ram Sarikh Yadav, Suraj Seshadri, Kiran A M, Sujit N Gowda, Shivraj S.

Runners-up from the 2016 edition of the Karnataka Premier League, the Tigers had a great run in 2017 with four wins from six group stage matches and made it to the semifinals courtesy of some exciting batting from opener Mayank Agarwal and crafty bowling from Abhishek Sakuja, 2017's highest wicket-taker and skipper R Vinay Kumar.

While the Tigers managed to retain the services of skipper Vinay Kumar, Abhishek Sakuja and budding leggie, Praveen Dubey, they also opted to show some faith on to exciting opening batsman Abhishek Reddy, who notched up 154 runs from seven games. Sweating over Agarwal's availability for the upcoming season, the Tigers went in for a ₹25,000 bid on their star opener but have an excellent opener in Mohammad Taha (₹1 lakh). Having broken bank to buy back the services of all-rounder Melu Kranti Kumar (₹3.5 lakh), the Tigers have done well to retain the nucleus of their side as well as procure an exciting mix of youngsters.

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Bengaluru Blasters

Bengaluru Blasters

Team: Pavan Deshpande (R), Mitrakant Yadav (R), Abhishek Bhat (R), Koushik V (R), Robin Uthappa, KB Pawan, Anand Doddamani, Arshdeep Singh Brar, KC Avinash, Pallav Kumar Das, Sharan Gowda, Manoj S Bhandage, Bharath Devaraj, Vineet Yadav, Gaurav Dhiman, Vishwanath M, Azeem.

One of the biggest positives for the Kalyani Bengaluru Blasters will be the addition of Robin Uthappa (₹7.9 lakh) to their side, who is capable of single-handedly changing the fortunes of the Blasters from their win-less campaign last season to a title triumph this time around.

Ahead of the auction, the Blasters chose to retain their highest wicket-takers from last season, the duo of Abhishek Bhat and Koushik V while also keeping faith in left-handed dasher Pavan Deshpande and Mitrakant Yadav, and while the latter did not have much of a contribution last season, he has been pipped to make a strong impact in the upcoming season.

In KB Pawan (₹4.55 lakh), the Blasters have a man who can form an alliance with Robin Uthappa along with M Vishwanath (₹0.2 lakh), an imperative part of the Blasters' campaign last season. Add to that tweakers Anand Doddamani and Arshdeep Singh Brar, the Blasters look far more happy than what they did in the previous season.

Mysuru Warriors

Mysuru Warriors celebrate the fall of a wicket

Team: Jagdeesha Suchith (R), Vyshak Vijaykumar (R), Manjunath SP (R), Bhareth NP (R), Amit Verma, Krishnappa Gowtham, Prasidh Krishna, Shoaib Manager, Arjun Hoysala, Prateek Jain, KV Siddharth, Rajoo Bhatkal, Vinay Sagar, Luvnith Sisodia, Kushal Wadhwani, Manoj KH.

Easily one of the most well-settled sides post the auctions, the Warriors' addition of Shoaib Manager (₹1.55 lakh) and an approach to rope in Amit Verma's services for a sum of ₹7.6 lakh, their biggest buy of the auction will undoubtedly hold them in good stead during the competition.

Young pacer Vyshak Vijaykumar, who picked 10 wickets from six matches was retained and can be expected to form a strong pace attack with talented quick Prateek Jain (₹4.3 lakh) while all-rounder Bhareth NP, Manjunath SP and one of Karnataka's best spinners, Jagdeesha Suchith were also retained. The Warriors did extremely well to re-procure the services of dashing batsman Arjun Hoysala (₹3.1 lakh), who amassed 133 runs from six matches in their previous season while the addition of Prasidh Krishna (₹0.35 lakh) and Krishnappa Gowtham (₹0.25 lakh) for paltry sums of money could prove to be a masterstroke if the duo feature in the tournament.

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Shivamogga Lions

Shivamogga will look to Abhimanyu Mithun's

all-round

prowess for a positive campaign

Team: Aniruddha Joshi (R), Mohammad Sarfraz Ashraf (R), Nihal Ullal (R), Liyan Khan (R), Abhimanyu Mithun, BR Sharath, Jonathan Rongsen, Kishore Kamath, Bharath Duri, Prithviraj Shekhawat, Sankalp Shailendra Shettennavar, Nishant Shekawat, Syed Moinuddin, Aditya Somanna, Rohit K, Sharath Srinivas, Hoysala K, Abilash Shetty.

The team from Shivamogga opted to re-shuffle their team name from 'Namma Shivamogga' to Shivamogga Lions and with that their team as they retained only Aniruddha Joshi from Pool A while Mohammad Sarfraz Ashraf, promising wicket-keeper batsman Nihal Ullal, and opener Liyan Khan found a spot in the team from Pool B.

The Lions stole all the spotlight as they went all out to procure the services of seasoned pacer Abhimanyu Mithun for a huge sum of ₹8.3 lakh, the costliest ever purchase in the history of the KPL and given his big-hitting ability apart from bowling at race pace, the Lions will believe they have a good all-rounder in the mix. Jonathan R, the second highest run-getter for Namma Shivamogga last season was bought back for ₹5.45 lakh while wicket-keeper Sharath BR (₹1.3 lakh) will in all likelihood partner Liyan Khan at the top of the order.

Leg-spinner Kishore Kamath, who turned heads at the IPL auctions made a move from the Panthers to the Lions for a sum of ₹1.5 lakh and will shoulder the spinning duties while young Prithviraj Shekhawat's slow left-arm orthodox will come in handy as well.