After Tamil Nadu Premier League, the another domestic T20 tournament of India i.e Karnataka Premier League is about to start which will be played from August 16. The 2019 season is going to be the 8th edition of KPL that means so far 7 editions of it have been completed. Karnataka Premier League was first started in 2009, in which the eight teams particiapted. For the 1st two seasons there 8 teams participated in this league. In the third season, ie in 2014/15 season, 7 teams participated. After 2 continuous season ie in 2009 and 2010, the tournament was suspended for 3 year i.e Karnataka Premier League was not organized for 2011, 2012 and 2013 season and then restarted in 2014. In most of the seasons of KPL, eight teams participated in this league but since 2017 season, seven teams are participating in it and the trend will continue for this upcoming season of 2019 also.
Like TNPL, Karnataka Premier League has also gained success in quick time and is known for providing some well talented players.
The 2019 season will run for about two weeks with the first match to be played on 16th August at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru and the Final will be played on Sep 01 at Srikantadatta Narasimha Raja Wadiyar Ground, Mysore.
Apart from 2015 and 2018 season, each season of Karnataka Premier League has produced different winners. 2015 and 2018 season were won by Bijapur Bulls and so the Bijapur Bulls are the defending Champions of KPL.
Many good players have shown their talent in KPL and are able to find a place in the bigger event of T20 Cricket ie. IPL. Few of these names are K Gowtham, Prasidh Krishna, Shivil Kaushik and KC Cariappa.
As many big players like Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad hailed from Karnataka and have made a huge mark in the International Cricket for India, so Karnataka has a big role in providing good talent to the Indian Cricket. Karnataka Premier League is another platform which is giving the young talent to put their mark on the bigger level.
The seven teams which will be playing in KPL 2019 are:
Belagavi Panthers Team Preview
Mysuru Warriors Team Preview
Bijapur Bulls Team Preview
Hubli Tigers Team Preview
Shivamogga Lions Team Preview
Ballary Tuskers Team Preview
Bengaluru Blasters Team Preview
Belagavi Panthers Team Preview:
Belagavi Panthers have won the Karnataka Premier League once in 2017. They reached the final in 2009 also but lost to Provident Bangalore in the Finals. Belagavi Panthers have added batsmen batsman Abhinav Manohar and Manish Pandey into their squad for 2019 season. Left-arm spinner Subhang Hegde and fast bowler Avinash D have been retained by the teams for the upcoming season.
Mysuru Warriors Team Preview
Mysuru Warriors became winner in 2014 season by beating Belagavi Panthers. In the each of last three editions of KPL, Mysuru Warriors were able to reach the semifinal. The team has added Aniruddha Joshi into their squad at the cost of Rs. 7.10 Lacs. Spinner Jagadeesha Suchith and medium pacer Vyshak Vijay Kumar have been retained by Warriors and they will be the key players for the team.
Bijapur Bulls Team Preview
Bijapur Bulls are the only team who have the Karnataka Premier League twice i.e in 2015 and 2018. In addition to this, they made a place in the finals for 3 out of last 4 seasons. Bharath Chipli and leg-spinner KC Cariappa are the main players for Bulls who have been continuing for the team in 2019 season also. Fast bowler Prateek Jain will the costliest new addition into the team.
Hubli Tigers Team Preview
Hubli Tigers participated in the KPL for the first time in 2014. They they were runner ups in two continuous season of 2015 and 2016. In 2017 and 2018 season they were able to reach the Semifinal.
Shivamogga Lions Team Preview
Shivamogga Lions have participated in the four seasons of KPL. They had very bad first two seasons but they were good in the next season i.e in 2017 where they reached the semifinal stage. Some additions have been made by the Shivamogga Lions team to get some better results in 2019 season.
Ballary Tuskers Team Preview
Ballary Tuskers made their first apperance into KPL in 2016 and won the tournament in their first season itself. After this season, they were not able to made and impact in the KPL’s next seasons and were not able to reach the semifinal stage also. WSicketkeeper bastman CM Gautam and batsman Devdutt Padikkal have been retained by the Tuskers for the 2019 seaon.
Bengaluru Blasters Team Preview
Bengaluru Blasters have made an entry into the KPL in 2017 season and have played just two seasons so far. After finishing at the end of the points table in their first season i.e in 2017 they played brilliantly in the 2018 seaons and finished runners-up. Bengaluru Blasters will be hoping for better show this time also.
Belagavi Panthers Team Squad
Manish Pandey, Ravikumar Samarth, Stallin Hoover, Abhinav Manohar, Mir Kaunain Abbas, Abdul Majid, Sharan Gowda, Ritesh Bhatkal, Dikshanshu Negi, AM Kiran , Arshdeep Singh Brar, Darshan Machaiah, Darshan MB, Zahoor Farooqui, Rakshith S, Shubang Hegde, Avinash D, Lochan Appanna
Mysuru Warriors Team Squad
Amit Verma, Manjesh Reddy, Aniruddha Joshi, Shoaib Manager, Dega Nischal, Jagadeesha Suchith, Vyshak Vijay Kumar, Krishnamurthy Siddharth, Kushaal Wadhwani, Praveera Venkatesh Murthy, Vinay Sagar, Saurabh Yadav, Sankalp Shettennavar, Ram Sarikh Yadav, Kishan S Bedare, Devaiah, BU Shivkumar, Jayesh Babu, Utham Aiyappa, LR Chethan
Bijapur Bulls Team Squad
Bharath Chipli, Raju Bhatkal, Santhebennur Akshay, Bhareth NP, Suneel Raju, Gonnabattula Chiranjeevi, KC Cariappa, Naveen MG, Prateek Jain, Liyan Khan, Samarth Ooty, R Praveen Kumar, Pranav Bhatia, Jashwanth Acharya, Swapnil Yelave, Suraj Kamath, Shimon Luiz, Mohit BA
Hubli Tigers Team Squad
Vinay Kumar, KB Pawan, Shishir Bhavane, David Mathias, Praveen Dubey, Aditya Somanna, Mohammed Taha, Shivil Koushik, Mitrakanth Yadav, M Vishwanathan, KL Shrijith, Luvnith Sisodia, Abilash Shetty, Vidyadhar Patil, Suraj Seshadri, Mahesh Patel, Parikshith Shetty, Dheeraj Shashidhar
Shivamogga Lions Team Squad
Abhimanyu Mithun, HS Sharath, Pavan Deshpande, M Nidhish, S P Manjunath, Arjun Hoysala, Nihal Ullal, K Hoysala, Akshay Ballal, Pradeep T, Pradeep Gangadhar, Rohith Gowda, Prithviraj Shekawat, Rishabh Singh, Prashanth S, S Shivaraj, Rohit K, Sujit N Gowda
Ballary Tuskers Team Squad
KP Appanna, CM Gautam, Abrar Kazi, Krishnappa Gowtham, Nizar Niyas, Gaurav Dhiman, Abhishek Reddy, Zeeshan Ali Sayeed, Bhavesh Gulecha, Srinivas Sharath, Karthik CA, Prasidh Krishna, Devdutt Padikkal, Santok Singh, Ruchir Joshi , Vishnu Priyan, Suraj Reddy, Sharana Basawa
Bengaluru Blasters Team Squad
Rongsen Jonathan, Rohan Kadam, KN Bharath, V Koushik, Nishant Shekhawat, Sharath BR, Anil I G, Bharath Dhuri, Anand Doddamani, Nikin Jose , Kishore Kamat, Anurag Bajpai, Manoj S Bhandage, Bharath Devaraj, Muthanna Chandrashekhar, Kuldeep Kumar, Rishi Bopanna, Aditya Goyal
Karnataka Premier League Winners So far
| Season | Teams participated | Stadiums/Venues | Winners | Runner Up |
| 2009/10 | 8 | M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru | Provident Bangalore | Belagavi Panthers |
| 2010/11 | 8 | M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru | Mangalore United | Provident Bangalore |
| 2014/15 | 7 | D.R. Bendre Cricket Stadium, Hubballi | Mysore Warriors | Belagavi Panthers |
| 2015/16 | 8 | Gangothri Glades Cricket Ground, Mysuru | Bijapur Bulls | Hubli Tigers |
| 2016/17 | 8 | D.R. Bendre Cricket Stadium, Hubballi | Bellary Tuskers | Hubli Tigers |
| 2017/18 | 7 | D.R. Bendre Cricket Stadium, Hubballi | Belagavi Panthers | Bijapur Bulls |
| 2018/19 | 7 | Srikantadatta Narasimha Raja Wadeyar Ground, Mysuru | Bijapur Bulls | Bengaluru Blasters |