Maharaja Trophy 2024 Preview: Are Hubli Tigers favourites again?

The third edition of the prestigious Maharaja Trophy KSCA is all set to begin on the independence day (August 15) at the world-famous M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. The tournament, which is organized in honor of the former president and the last king of Mysuru, Late Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodiyar, will have a total of six teams participating in a double round-robin format with a total of 33 games played across 17 days at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, with the final scheduled on September 1. 

A mini auction took place in Bengaluru on July 25, with big names like Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, and Jagadeesha Suchith going under the hammer. In the auction, it was the young wicketkeeper batter LR Chetan who went for the biggest price as Bengaluru Blasters signed him up for a whopping 8.6 lakhs. Gopal and Gowtham also went for big money as they signed with Mangaluru Dragons and Mysuru Warriors for INR 7.6 and 7.4 Lakh, respectively. Rahul Dravid’s 19-year-old son Samit Dravid also signed his first contract, which was signed by Mysuru Warriors for INR 50,000. 

Top Auction Signings

1.    LR Chetan – BENGALURU BLASTERS – INR 8.6 Lakh

2.    Shreyas Gopal – MANGALURU DRAGONS – INR 7.6 Lakh

3.    Krishnappa Gowtham – MYSURU WARRIORS – INR 7.4 Lakh

4.    Luvnith Sisodia – GULBARGA MYSTICS – INR 7.2 Lakh

5.    Mohammad Taha – HUBLI TIGERS – INR 6.6 Lakh

Teams

HUBLI TIGERS – 2023 CHAMPIONS

Defending Champions Hubli Tigers are coming into the tournament with a strong side. They have retained their core set of players in Manish Pandey, KL Shrijith, Vidwath Kaverappa and Manvanth Kumar. They managed to buy back both KC Cariappa and Mohammad Taha who were instrumental in the championship win last year. Thippa Reddy and Aneeshwar Gautam are some of the other notable signings for the Hubli franchise. They will be hoping to have another undisputed run like the 2023 edition and successfully defend their title.

Squad:

Retained Players: Manish Pandey, K.L. Shrijith, Vidhwath Kaverappa, L. Manvanth Kumar

Players signed in the auction: KC Cariappa, Mohammed Taha, Thippa Reddy, Karthikeya KP, LR Kumar, Aadarsh Prajwal, Kruthik Krishna, Aneeshwar Gautam, Madhav Prakash Bajaj, Shreesha S Achar, Daman Deep Singh, Mitrakant Yadav, Nishchith Pai, Rishi Bopanna

GULBARGA MYSTICS – 2022 CHAMPIONS

Gulbarga Mystics have been the most consistent side in this tournament. They won the 2022 season and were the semi-finalists in 2023. They have retained notable names like Vyshak Vijaykumar, Smaran R and Aneesh KV. Devdutt Padikkal, who missed the 2023 edition due to injury, was also retained due to his excellent performance for Karnataka at the domestic level. In the auction, they have signed the current crop of Karnataka state players like Pravin Dubey, Luvinth Sisodia and Sharath BR. Ritesh Bhatkal and Nathan D’Mello, who have been a consistent part of domestic T20 cricket in Karnataka, add more experience to the side.

Squad:

Retained Players: Devdutt Padikkal, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Smaran R, Aneesh KV

Players signed in the auction: Pravin Dubey, Luvnith Sisodia, Sharath BR, Aaditya Nair, Monish Reddy, Sharan Goud, Yashovardhan Parantap, Nathan D’Mello Joachim, Faizan Riaz, Ritesh Bhatkal, Wahid Faizan Khan, Abhishek Prabhakar, Prithvi Shekhawat, Shimon Luiz

MYSURU WARRIORS

Third time's the charm for the Warriors? After finishing runners-up in the last two editions, Mysuru Warriors will finally hope to get over the line this time around. Familiar names in Karun Nair, Karthik CA and Manoj Bhandage have been retained. The team has shown confidence in U-19 sensations in Karthik SU and retained him as well. At the auction, they went big and signed up experienced heads in Gowtam, Suchith and Prasidh Krishna. They have also signed notable U-19 talents like Dhanush Gowda and Samit Dravid, bringing a nice balance between youth and experience.

Squad:

Retained Players: Karun Nair, Karthik CA, Manoj Bhandage, Karthik SU

Players signed in the auction: Jagadeesha Suchith, Krishnappa Gowtham, Vidyadhar Patil, Venkatesh M, Harshil Dharmani, Goutham Mishra, Dhanush Gowda, Samit Dravid, Deepak Devadiga, Sumit Kumar, Smayan Srivastava, Jasper EJ, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Sarfaraz Ashraf

MANGALURU DRAGONS

Mangaluru Dragons have not had a great start in the first two seasons of the Maharaja Trophy, as they failed to qualify for the playoffs in both editions. A change in the team structure was possibly needed, and it can be seen during the auction as the team has strengthened its bowling, signing stalwarts like Shreyas Gopal along with last season’s highest wicket-taker, Abilash Shetty. They have retained their top-order batters in Siddharth, Nikin and Rohan. Young Paras Arya, who had a good season in 2023, also has been retained. Macneil Naronha and Darshan MB are also expected to step up to take the Mangaluru franchise in the knockouts. 

Squad:

Retained Players: KV Siddharth, Nikin Jose, Rohan Patil, Paras Gurbax Arya

Players signed in the auction: Shreyas Gopal, Dheeraj J. Gowda, Darshan MB, Macneil Hadley Noronha, Tushar Singh, Lankesh KS, Samarth Nagaraj, Sankalp SS, Abhilash Shetty, Nischith Rao, Lochan S Gowda, Pranav Bhatia, Sanjay Ashwin, Sagar Solanki

BENGALURU BLASTERS

Bengaluru Blasters have had contrasting seasons in the Maharaja Trophy. They were the table toppers in the 2022 season and finished runners-up, losing to Gulbarga in the final. In the 2023 season, they finished at the bottom of the table, winning only one of their 10 games. They have made a significant change to the squad as they retained only three players: Mayank Agarwal, Shubhang Hegde and Mohsin Khan. They went big behind Chetan in the auction and signed him as the most expensive player. They have also signed the likes of Anirudh Joshi, Naveen MG and Prateek Jain, who have good experience in the T20 circuit in Karnataka. They will be hoping to have a far better season than what they had last year.

Squad:

Retained Players: Mayank Agarwal, Shubhang Hegde, Mohsin Khan

Players signed in the auction: Anirudha Joshi, Naveen MG, Prateek Jain, Chethan LR, Kranthi Kumar M, Santokh Singh, Aditya Goyal, Rakshith S, Varun Rao TN, Niranjan Naik, Lavish Kaushal, Varun Kumar, Shikhar Shetty, Bheem Rao Navale

SHIVAMOGGA LIONS

Shivamogga Lions are one of the dark horses coming into the 2024 edition of the Maharaja Trophy. They have retained big names in Abhinav Manohar and Vasuki Koushik. Wicketkeeper-batter Nihal Ullal has been given the captaincy duty this season. At the auction, their big signing was the U-19 left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Hardik Raj, who had a breakout season last season, picking up eight wickets, resulting in a call-up for Karnataka in the 2023-24 domestic season. They have a few notable names in Sharath HS, Pradeep T and Anand Doddamani. 

Squad:

Retained Players: Abhinav Manohar, Nihal Ullal, Vasuki Koushik, Shivaraj

Players signed in the auction: Pradeep T, Hardik Raj, Dhruv Prabhakar, Anand Doddamani, Rajvir Wadhwa, Avinash D, Dheeraj Mohan, Bharath Dhuri, Aadithya Vishwa Karma, Aditya Mani, Rohit K, Rohan Naveen, Sharath HS, Mohith BA

Venue Record

Bengaluru - M Chinnaswamy Stadium

Matches – 128

Bat 1st – 53 | Bat 2nd – 68

Toss win bat – 22

Toss win bowl – 106

Avg 1st inns score – 172/6 | Avg 1st inns winning score – 190/6

In the 2023 edition of Maharaja Trophy, a large portion of afternoon games saw teams chasing winning the match. While in the night games, teams batting first found more success. It will be interesting to see whether the 2024 edition also see similar results.

Maharaja Trophy KSCA 2023

Matches – 33

Bat 1st – 13 | Bat 2nd – 20

Toss win Bat – 3

Toss win Bowl – 30

Avg 1st inns score – 167/7 | Avg 1st inns winning score – 198/6

Where can we watch Maharaja Trophy KSCA 2024?

The third edition of the Maharaja Trophy KSCA 2024 will be broadcast live on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 1 Kannada television. All the matches will be streamed live on Fancode.

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