KCL auction set for July 11, Samson retained by Kochi Blue Tigers

With the player auction for the third season of the Kerala Cricket League (KCL) set for July 11, the participating franchises have announced their retained players list.

Defending champions Kochi Blue Tigers have retained their captain Saly Samson for ₹7.5 lakh while also holding on to Mohammed Ashiq for ₹1.5 lakh.

Kollam Sailors, who finished runners-up in the second season, and Thrissur Titans have retained four players each. Calicut Globstars and Trivandrum Royals have retained three players each, while Alleppey Ripples opted to retain the services of Category A star Mohammed Azharuddeen for ₹7.5 lakh.

NM Sharafuddeen and Abhishek J Nair are the Category A players retained by the Sailors, for ₹7.5 lakh and ₹5 lakh respectively. Pawan Raj and Vijay Viswanath, from Category B, are the others retained by the former champions for ₹1.5 lakh each.

Thrissur Titans have retained Category A players Ahamed Imran and Shoun Roger, along with Aditya Vinod and A K Arjun from Category C. Imran, who finished as the league's second-highest run-getter, has been retained for ₹7.5 lakh. Roger has been retained for ₹5 lakh.

The star trio of Salman Nizar, Rohan S Kunnummal and Akhil Scaria will remain with the Calicut Globstars. Nizar has been retained for ₹7.5 lakh, Kunnummal for ₹5 lakh, and Scaria for ₹3.75 lakh.

The Royals have retained KCL-2's highest run-scorer, Krishna Prasad, for ₹7.5 lakhs. The franchise has also retained V Ajith and Govind Dev Pai for ₹1.5 lakhs each.