KCL-3 auction on July 11: Will Sanju Samson's ₹26.8 lakh record be broken?

The stage is set for the auction ahead of the third season of the Kerala Cricket League (KCL). The auction will be held in Thiruvananthapuram, starting 10 am on July 11.

The KCL is the official men's T20 league hosted by the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA), comprising six franchises: Kochi Blue Tigers, Kollam Sailors, Alleppey Ripples, Thrissur Titans, Calicut Globstars, and Trivandrum Royals.

IPL superstar Sanju Samson, who helped the Blue Tigers lift the title last year, will not feature this time. His elder brother, Saly Samson, who led the Blue Tigers, has been retained. The Blue Tigers had secured the services of Sanju for a whopping ₹26.8 lakh in last season's auction.

A total of 173 players were listed for KCL-3, of whom the franchises retained 17. The remaining 156 players have been split into three categories: A, B and C.

Category A comprises players with experience in first-class, List A and IPL, and they will have a base price of ₹3 lakh. Players in Category B are those who have played at the Under-19 and Under-23 levels for the state. Their base price is set at ₹1.5 lakh. Those in Category C are district-level and zonal-level players, with a base price of ₹75,000.

Seasoned campaigners such as Sachin Baby, Vishnu Vinod, Basil Thampi, M D Nidheesh and 28 others come under Category A.

Each franchise has a total purse of ₹50 lakh and can have between 16 and 20 players in the squad. KCL-3 is expected to run from August 20 to September 5.