Venkatesh Prasad, Sunil Joshi to return to cricket in KPL

Bengaluru: India pacer Venkatesh Prasad and left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi will make an on-field return with the fourth edition of the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) Twenty20 tournament.

Apart from Prasad and Joshi, former cricketer David Johnson will also be seen in action, playing for All Stars Celebrity team (Rockstars) led by Sandalwood star Kiccha Sudeep.

Top national and Indian Premier League (IPL) cricketers - Vinay Kumar, Stuart Binny, Robin Uthappa, K L Rahul, Abhimanyu Mithun, Manish Pandey, S Aravind, Karun Nair, CM Gautham, Mayank Agarwal, Shreyas Gopal, Ronit More, KC Cariappa, J Suchith and Shishir Bhavane will also participate in the tournament.

KPL 2015 will be played in Mysore and Hubli from August 26 to September 13, former Test batsman and KSCA Secretary Brijesh Patel told reporters here.

Fans will get to see a new entrant, Namma Shivamogga, along with seven other teams - Mysuru, Hubballi, Mangaluru, Bijapur, Ballari, Belagavi, and All Stars, which participated in 2014 KPL.

This year KSCA has introduced Qualifier one and Qualifier two and Eliminator, on the lines of Indian Premier League, Patel said.

Patel also said KSCA is making efforts to convince BCCI to permit them to buy two players belonging to other states to make KPL even more interesting and competent.

However, he expressed his disappointment of some reservation on the the matter and said, "when the host cricket board has no objection of having non-resident players for KPL, there shouldn't be any problem."

Patel said each franchise will be allowed to retain two players and players' auction will take place here on July 25.

KPL's new logo also was unveiled in the presence of players, KSCA officials and sponsors.