Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble—now split between Rajasthan Royals and RCB—are sending feelers to Karnataka players to play for their respective IPL franchises.
The IPL auction is over but there is still hope for young, uncapped players in the state as Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) roster has only player from the state—Abhimanyu Mithun—out of its chosen 16.
Cricketing circles in the city are abuzz with the Chinese whisper that former India skippers Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble—now split between Rajasthan Royals and RCB—are sending feelers to Karnataka players to play for their respective IPL franchises.
It is a tricky situation for the youngsters. Kumble, chief mentor, RCB, and president, Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), is believed to be trying to convince the state players to sign up for RCB.
Senior player and former RCB icon, Dravid, on the other hand, has already approached many of them to pad up for RR.
“Rahul bhai had called yesterday to find out if I wanted to play for Rajasthan. Nothing is on paper yet but I am not sure if Anil bhai is going to be pleased if I would play for them as he wants me to sign up with RCB,” a Karnataka player told DNA under conditions of anonymity.
IPL had earlier assigned catchment areas for teams that gave franchises the power of signing up a player whether or not he wanted to be a part of the team.
“Earlier, the rule said the Bangalore team can sign players from Goa and Karnataka and only when the franchise does not show any interest in a player, he could sign up with another team. With no such rule this time, it boils to lucrative offers made by other teams and it’s difficult for the franchises to restrict home players from playing for another side,” said an official with RCB.
People familiar with the developments say Kumble is keen on getting the uncapped Manish Pandey to the RCB bandwagon though the player was said to be considering an offer from Pune Warriors.
Kumble, who is the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA), had a long conversation with Stuart Binny, another promising Karnataka player, on Wednesday at the academy. Binny is among the uncapped India players who are being chased by the IPL franchises.
Sources say that Dravid, too, has showed interest in uncapped Karnataka youngsters, including Binny, Amit Verma and Mayank Agarwal.
For these youngsters more than the money, a spot in the playing XI of an IPL team would be the stepping stone into Team India.
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