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The Pro Kabaddi League has changed the way the sport is seen in the country, making what was essentially considered to be a rural sport into a multi-million dollar franchise-based league that has taken the nation by storm. The star players have now become household names and extremely popular all over India, also commanding huge sums of money at the player auctions.
After four seasons, there have been many names that have emerged from obscurity and are now a key part of one of the 12 sides in Season 5. However, there are also a few cases of players rising to fame but are nowhere to be seen in the latest edition of the PKL.
In this article, let's take a look at five players who are surprisingly not part of this year's competition and would have been wonderful additions to the kabaddi extravaganza that is the Pro Kabaddi League!
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#1 Suraj Desai
The raider hit headlines after being becoming the most expensive player on the second day of the player auctions in May, bought for a mammoth Rs 52.50 lakhs by Dabang Delhi. The Eagles put a lot of faith in his attacking abilities and given his price tag, fans were eager to watch him on the mat.
However, disaster struck as he was injured a few weeks ahead of the new season and was ruled out of action for the entirety of the campaign. He was replaced by R. Sriram, an 18-year-old rookie from Tamil Nadu, who is expected to take his PKL bow soon.
#2 Kiran Parmar
The Indian team that lifted the Kabaddi World Cup in 2016 consisted of stars from a variety of Pro Kabaddi teams, led by U Mumba's Anup Kumar and ably supported by the likes of Ajay Thakur, Pardeep Narwal, Mohit Chhillar, Rahul Chaudhari, etc. However, there was another member of the squad that had no prior PKL experience to his name.
Kiran Parmar, who hails from Gujarat, was part of the Indian contingent and scored a total of 14 points over the course of the tournament, playing the role of a substitute to great effect. However, he was not a part of the players list at the Season 5 auction, despite a new team being formed from his state, who also revealed that they would have been interested in buying him had he been available.
#3 Sonu Narwal
The lanky raider has a formidable Pro Kabaddi record to his name, having played for the Jaipur Pink Panthers and Puneri Paltan and amassing 138 raid points over the course of three seasons. He was also a part of the Indian team that won the gold medal at the Asian Games in 2010.
He was bought by the Haryana Steelers at the auction for a bargain price of Rs 21 lakh and looked all set to become a part of a menacing attack line but it was later revealed that he was dropped from the team as he was physically unfit and will not play this season's PKL.
#4 Sandeep Dhull
One of the best defensive prospects to have emerged from the past few editions, Sandeep Dhull was billed as one of the players to watch out for ahead of the player auctions of the fifth season. However, when his name came up, no team raised their paddle and he went unsold, much to fans' disbelief.
He had the most super tackles in the league in Season 3 while playing for Dabang Delhi and in Season 4 with the Telugu Titans, he formed a terrific corner combination with Sandeep Narwal and achieved a successful tackle percentage of 52.23%.
However, he was not picked by any team for the new season, with a Telugu Titans official confirming that they had no interest in him due to 'attitude problems'.
#5 Sandeep Kandola
Nicknamed the 'baby-faced assassin', Sandeep Kandola emerged as a shining prospect in Season 2, ending up as the second-highest tackle point scorer with 59 tackle points behind Ravinder Pahal. Just 18 at the time, Kandola wowed fans with his vice-like ankle holds, that brought the best raiders in the business.
However, he is not a part of Season 5 after his name was not included in the player list ahead of the auction. It is a shame as his presence on the mat would have been a wonderful addition to the competition.
