The player auction for the second season of Kerala Cricket League (KCL) will be held here on July 5.

Sanju Samson, who didn’t take part in the inaugural edition of KCL for personal reasons, has informed the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) of his availability and his name has been included in the initial draft of around 170 players.

The total purse for the franchises has been increased to ₹50 lakh and each franchise can retain up to four players. The franchise can exercise the Right to Match (RTM) card in the auction and the bidding for a player ends once the RTM card is used by a franchise.

There is also a proposal to increase the base prices of players in all categories. The base price of player in category A will be increased from two lakh to three lakh while for category B, the price raise will be from one lakh to two lakh and for C Category, the base price will go up from ₹50,000 to ₹75,000.

Like in the previous year, noted sports commentator Charu Sharma will be the auctioneer.

A meeting of the franchises and other stakeholders will be held on Thursday where they will be briefed of the new changes.

The second edition will be held from August 22 to September 7.

Meanwhile, former Kerala Ranji Trophy captain Raiphy Vincent Gomez has taken over as the coach of Kochi Blue Tigers while Sony Cheruvathur will be in charge of Alleppey Ripples.