The Pro Kabaddi League, after four successful seasons, is all set to start a new chapter with season five, which is slated for a July 28 start. Earlier this week, the player auctions were held, which saw a total of 12 teams, including four new ones, vie for stars from a pool consisting of over 400 players.
In the end, a total of Rs 46.99 crores was spent on 227 players, a huge jump from the season 4 auction. The highest bid went in favour of Nitin Tomar, who was bought by the new yet-to-be-named Uttar Pradesh side for Rs 93 lakhs. Among the foreign players, it was Jang Kun Lee who had the highest payday after netting a cool Rs 80.3 lakh sum, thanks to the dynamic pricing system.
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In this system, the contracted amount for the retained player of the existing eight franchises and the priority pick of the four new ones was contingent on the overall auction activity of the teams. It was either the base price of the category to which the player belonged or 110% of the highest amount paid for a single player from the same or lower category, which ever is higher.
As a result, the retained and priority pick players became the highest-earners in their teams. For example, Surender Nada, who was Haryana’s priority pick, netted a sum of Rs 51.15 lakhs as in the auction, his team’s highest-paid player was defender Mohit Chhillar, who was bought for Rs 46.50 lakhs. Teams UP and Jaipur had opted to not nominated any single elite player and were thus able to splash the cash on Nitin Tomar and Manjeet Chhillar.
Here are the top earning players after all the action!
Top 5 highest-earning Indian players
| Rank | Player Name | Price (Rs) | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nitin Tomar | 93 lakhs | Uttar Pradesh |
| 2 | Rohit Kumar | 81 lakhs | Bengaluru Bulls |
| 3 | Manjeet Chhillar | 75.50 lakhs | Jaipur Pink Panthers |
| 4= | Surjeet Singh | 73 lakhs | Bengal Warriors |
| 4= | K Selvamani | 73 lakhs | Jaipur Pink Panthers |
Top 5 highest-earning international players
| Rank | Player Name | Price (Rs) | Nationality | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jang Kun Lee (retained) | 80.30 lakhs | South Korea | Bengal Warriors |
| 2 | Meraj Sheykh (retained) | 57.75 lakhs | Iran | Dabang Delhi |
| 3 | Abozar Mohajermighani | 50 lakhs | Iran | Gujarat |
| 4 | Abolfazel Maghsodlo | 31.80 lakhs | Iran | Dabang Delhi |
| 5 | Farhad Rahimi | 29 lakhs | Iran | Telugu Titans |
Top 5 Category B players
| Rank | Player Name | Price (Rs) | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Suraj Desai | 52.50 lakhs | Dabang Delhi |
| 2 | Jaideep Singh | 50 lakhs | Patna Pirates |
| 3 | Nilesh Salunke | 49 lakhs | Telugu Titans |
| 4 | Somvir Shekhar | 45.50 lakhs | Jaipur Pink Panthers |
| 5 | Bajirao Hodage | 44.50 lakhs | Dabang Delhi |
