Bengaluru, July 20 (IANS): Senior players Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Abhinav Manohar, and Vyshak Vijaykumar were among the stars retained by the franchises for the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 Season 3 ahead of the auction, scheduled later this month.

The tournament, scheduled for August 15 to September 1 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, will see defending champions Hubli Tigers, runners-up Mysore Warriors, Gulbarga Mystics, Bengaluru Blasters, Mangaluru Dragons, and Shivamogga Lions vying for the title.

Each franchise exercised their right to retain four players from their previous season's squad, ahead of the player auction which is scheduled for July 25.

Hubli Tigers retained the services of skipper Manish Pandey, who returns from a championship season with the Kolkata Knight Riders, wicketkeeper Shrijith KL and the young all-rounder, Manvanth Kumar.

Ace medium pacer, Vidwath Kaverappa will also return to lead the Hubli Tigers’ bowling attack. Notably, Manish Pandey and Shrijith KL were amongst the top five run-scorers in the previous season while Manvanth Kumar was the leading wicket-taker.

Last year’s runners-up, Mysore Warriors prioritised a strong top order with the retention of last season’s top scorer and captain Karun Nair, the explosive CA Karthik, and the prodigious S.U Karthik. The hard-hitting all-rounder Manoj Bhandage will also feature for the Mysore Warriors yet again.

While the southpaw Devdutt Paddikal was forced to miss Gulbarga Mystics’ previous campaign due to an injury, he returns to strengthen the Mystics batting unit this season. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru pacer Vyshak Vijaykumar has also been retained along with batters Smaran Ravi and Aneesh KV.

The Shivamogga Lions retained Abhinav Manohar who was also the most expensive player in last year‘s auction with a price tag of 15 lakh. Furthermore, Nihal Ullal and Shivraj also return to provide the Lions with a formidable batting lineup. The experienced medium pacer Vasuki Koushik has also been retained by the Shivamogga Lions.

The Mangaluru Dragons will see the return of top-order batter, Nikin Jose, who missed out on a majority of the previous season due to NCA commitments. Rohan Patil, Siddharth KV and Paras Gurbax Arya complete their list of retentions.

While the Bengaluru Blasters had a lukewarm season last year, their retentions include the experienced opener, Mayank Agarwal, Suraj Ahuja, all-rounder Shubhang Hegde and Mohsin Khan.

B.K. Sampath Kumar, Commissioner of the Maharaja Trophy and vice-president of KSCA, expressed his enthusiasm for the upcoming season, he said, "We are eagerly anticipating another exciting season of the Maharaja Trophy. Player retention is a significant part of our franchise model, introduced last year. This continuity allows each team to build a strong culture and identity while retaining some of their key players.”

The tournament will be broadcast on Star Sports 2, StarSports Kannada and streamed on FanCode.