Karnataka Premier League 2019: 3 youngsters who could secure IPL contracts if they do well this season

Karnataka State Cricket Association is gearing up for the eighth season of the Karnataka Premier League (KPL), set to start in August this year. The tournament will be played for two weeks across Bengaluru, Hubli and Mysore, with the final scheduled on September 1.

KPL has served as a platform for talented cricketers such as Prasidh Krishna, KC Cariappa, Shivil Kaushik and K Gowtham, who have later gone on to play in the Indian Premier League. A few of them have also been a part of the India A squad in recent times.

Just like every other season, the upcoming edition also offers several budding cricketers with a chance to make a mark in front of a larger audience. Most of the IPL franchises and scouts follow the state-based tournaments in order to add depth to their squad and include surprise packages.

On that note, based on their performances in recent times, we look at three players who could receive an IPL call-up next season.

#3 V Koushik

Karnataka has had a decent heritage of churning out fast bowlers for the Indian Cricket team.

While Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad dominated in the Indian Team for a while, their successors in Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun, and Sreenath Aravind featured for the national side sporadically.

The new crop of young bowlers comprising of the likes of Prasidh Krishna and V Koushik are out to emulate what their immediate seniors achieved, and probably go on to cement their spot in the Indian team.

With 17 wickets in previous season's Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Koushik was Karnataka's best bowler.

He accepted the responsibility of bowling at both ends of the innings and fulfilled it with ease. He has got quite a few variations up his sleeve, with the yorker being his trademark delivery. If he can keep the batsmen down in KPL 8 as well, an IPL offer could be on the way.