PKL 2019: 4 players who have been shockingly released by their franchises ahead of the auction

The player auction of the 7th season of the VIVO Pro Kabaddi League will take place at Mumbai on 8th and 9th April. Ahead of the auction, all the 12 franchises had to announce the players they want to retain and a total of 29 players will play for the same franchise they did for in 2018-19.

Last year, all the franchises had retained 21 players in total and the number has gone up by 8 this year. In 2018-19, Bengaluru Bulls overcame the Gujarat Fortunegiants in the finale to win their first ever PKL title. Pawan Sehrawat played the lead role in Bengaluru's success as the south Indian franchise put an end to Patna Pirates' title winning streak.

The retention list has proven to be full of surprises as some “Crorepatis” of last year’s Pro Kabaddi League auction could not retain their place in their respective franchise.

Here are the 5 players who have been shockingly released by their Pro Kabaddi League franchises ahead of the player auction set to take place in April.

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#4 Monu Goyat (Haryana Steelers)

Monu Goyat failed to impress in the previous edition of VIVO PKL

Performance in PKL 2018 - 164 raid points in 20 matches, team finished last in Pool A table

Sonipat based Haryana Steelers made the costliest buy in PKL history when they bought star raider, Monu Goyat for a staggering amount of ₹1.51 crores in the auction. Monu had a stellar season 5 with the Patna Pirates which helped him fetch such a huge amount in the auction.

However, the raider could not repeat his past success as he could only manage 164 raid points in 20 matches. Because of Surender Nada’s injury, Monu Goyat took over the captaincy of Haryana Steelers as well but he could not lead his team to the play-offs. Given the talented player Monu Goyat is, it would be no surprise if the Haryana Steelers buy him back in this year’s auction but at a lower auction price.

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#3 Rahul Chaudhari (Telugu Titans)

Rahul Chaudhari will once again go under the hammer in 2019

Performance in PKL 2018 - 166 raid points in 21 matches, team finished 5th in Pool B table

When the Telugu Titans released Rahul Chaudhari ahead of the 2018 season, no one expected to buy him back at a price of 1.29 Crores INR. However, the Titans took the unexpected way to get Rahul back in their team. The talismanic raider blew hot and cold throughout the season and seemed to be out of his Midas touch.

Rahul could only pick 166 raid points in 21 matches, a poor record for a player of his caliber. This will be the 2nd consecutive year that the top raider will go under the hammer and this time, the chances Telugu Titans will re-sign him are low.

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#2 Nitesh Kumar (U.P. Yoddha)

Nitesh Kumar took 100 tackle points while playing in the right corner of U.P. Yoddha

Performance in PKL 2018 - 100 tackle points in 25 matches, team reached play-offs

Nitesh Kumar stunned everyone with his rock solid defense in the right corner of U.P Yoddha. It was his century of points in the defense that took U.P. Yoddha to the play-offs in the previous season.

From a situation where the Yoddhas were finding it difficult to avoid the wooden spoon, Nitesh Kumar along with the support from the raiding department took them to the final 3 of the tournament. The U.P. Yoddhas have also left out their star raider Rishank Devadiga out of their squad and it will be interesting to see what strategy have they prepared for the player auction.

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#1 Siddharth Sirish Desai

U Mumba

have

retained defender Rajguru in the squad and have let go of Siddharth Desai!

Performance in PKL 2018 - 221 raid points in 21 matches, team reached play-offs

Perhaps, the biggest find of last year’s Pro Kabaddi League, Siddharth Desai has not been retained by his franchise, U Mumba for the upcoming VIVO PKL. The U Mumba officials have instead opted to keep Fazel Atrachali, Rajguru and Arjun Deshwal in their squad ahead of the auction.

Siddharth Desai finished in 3rd in the raiders’ leaderboard with a mountain of 221 raid points in 21 matches. He single-handedly won the matches for his team yet he will go under the hammer come April 8th.

Also, the likes of Parvesh Bhainswal (Gujarat Fortunegiants), Vishal Bhardwaj (Telugu Titans), Surender Singh (U Mumba), Mahender Singh (Bengaluru Bulls) have been released ahead of the auction.

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