Bengaluru, Sep 19: Belagavi Panthers, who topped the points table in the fourth edition of the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) will look to go all the way this time and win the coveted trophy, as season five of the tournament which kick started amid wide fan-fare, at Hubballi's KSCA Stadium at Rajnagar on Saturday (September 17).

In the KPL auction held last month, the Panthers retained captain Vinay, who has been one of the driving forces behind the team's success, in the previous editions of the tournament.

Panthers' lynchpin in the batting department, and the player with the highest individual score (103) in last year's edition, Mayank Agarwal will stay with Belagavi this year as well. Sharath HS and Praveen Dubey are the other two players retained at this year's KPL auction.

Praveen, who represents Karnataka juniors at the domestic level, is a leg-spinning all-rounder and made his list A debut against Gujarat in the 2015 Vijay Hazare Trophy.

His impressive performances with the Belagavi Panthers, helped him land a contract with IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore, in the IPL 2016 auction. The Panthers would expect Dubey to summon every ounce of his prowess to bamboozle opposition batsmen on the twenty-two yards. (Mysuru team profile)

India A fast bowler HS Sharath, yet another thrilling talent, will bolster Panthers' bowling attack in KPL 5. (Know about Bellary team)

In another valuable addition to the squad, the Belagavi Panthers lapped up twenty-six -year-old batsman, Mir Kaunain Abbas for a whooping Rs 2, 55,000. Abbas, who sported the Namma Shivamogga greens in the previous seasons, is an able batsman and his inclusion should hold the Panthers in good stead this year.

The Belagavi Panthers came close to winning the league in 2014, but were narrowly beaten by Mysuru Warriors, in what turned out to be a thrilling KPL finale. However, two years is a long time in cricket and a rejuvenated and revamped unit, would want to go that extra mile to win their maiden KPL trophy. (Hubli team profile)

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Belagavi squad

R Vinay Kumar (captain)

Mayank Agarwal

Sharath H S

Praveen Dubey

Likhit Bannur

Satish Bharadwaj

Shoiab Manager

Abdul Majid

Mir Kaunan Abbas

Anurag Bajpai

Pradeep T

Sunil Kumar Jain

Ram Sharik Yadav

C K Akshay

Abhishek Sakuja

Darshan Patil

Rajvardhan Reddy

Swapnil Yelave

Rahul Naik

Ishfaq Nazir Bhat

Owners - AR Nagesh, MD Subhas Enterprises

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Support Staff

T Nasiruddin - Chief Coach

G Mukund - Assistant Coach

Kiran - Trainer

Sriranga - Physio

Nandisha - Analyst

G Arun - Analyst

Atanu Ghosh - Masseur

Srikanth - Logistics

Mohan Babu - Logistics

Yogesh - Logistics

Yere Goud - Mentor

Joe Hoover - CEO

Anil - Support Staff

Madhu - Support Staff

Krishn - Support Staff

Yogesh - Support Staff

Raghunath - Support Staff

Ramesh Babu - Support Staff

Gururaj - Support Staff

Ramesh - Support Staff

All matches of the KPL 2016 will be telecast live on Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD Channels.

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