The Pro Kabaddi League has been a tremendous initiative in uplifting this great Indian sport and it has raised the game to a great international standard and Season 7 of this league is no doubt the most anticipated and awaited ones of them all. The auction this year was always slated to be a big one with the purse of teams being increased and many popular players available for the teams to sign. Day 1 saw the players from Category A and Category B be auctioned.
This season's auction has got off to a great start and we have had many surprises from the teams and a couple of outrageous bids from sides. The demand for these players was so much that there were no unsold players at the auction.
Also, many teams had the option of utilizing their FBM or 'Final Bid Match' where the team to which the player previously belonged can sign the player again for the price for which the bidding was closed. With only 2 FBM cards with each side, it was interesting to see which players those cards went to.
Ran Singh, the former Bengal Warriors all-rounder was the first one to be put up and he was bought by the Tamil Thalaivaas. Then followed Sandeep Narwal who was bought for a huge amount of ₹89 lakhs by U Mumba. That set the tone for the auction and teams began on their mission to get the best players into their sides.
Surender Nada's signing by the Patna Pirates and Mahender Singh's re-buy for ₹80 lakh from the Bengaluru Bulls were some of the top bids in the defenders' list.
Siddharth Desai created a bidding war between the Tamil Thalaivaas and the Telugu Titans as both the teams went all-out to secure the services but the Titans won the bid at the end. He set the stage for strong future bids as the raiders attracted a lot of money from the sides.
The players from Category B didn't generate as much interest from viewers but the teams seemed more active during this period.
On that note, let's take a look at the players put up for sale and where they went at the auction.
Note: List is in the order in which players were listed for the auction.
Category A
All-Rounders:
The all-rounders in Category A were going to be the easiest to sell since they were only 2 players in the category. Both the players however received hefty bids indicating that the teams did mean serious business and were raring to go the distance to acquire the perfect team. Here's the list:
1) Ran Singh- Tamil Thalaivaas [₹55 Lakh]
2) Sandeep Narwal- U Mumba [₹89 Lakh]
Defenders:
The defenders in Category A provided much more action as there were few big transfers which took place. Ravinder Pahal was the first one to go up and was bought by Dabang Delhi KC using their FBM card which played a crucial role in this category. A considerable amount of money was spent on defenders. Here's the list:
Defenders:
1) Girish Ernak- Puneri Paltan (FBM used) [₹33 Lakh]
2) Jaideep- Patna Pirates (FBM used) [₹35 Lakh]
3) Surender Nada- Patna Pirates [₹77 Lakh]
4) Mahender Singh- Bengaluru Bulls (FBM used) [₹80 Lakh]
5) Parvesh Bhainswal- Gujarat Fortune Giants (FBM used) [₹75 Lakh]
6) Amit Hooda- Jaipur Pink Panthers [₹53 Lakh]
7) Ravinder Pahal- Dabang Delhi KC (FBM used) [₹61 Lakh]
8) PO Surjeet Singh- Puneri Paltan [₹56 Lakh]
9) Vishal Bhardwaj- Telugu Titans (FBM used) [₹60 Lakh]
Raiders:
The raiders were always going to be the highlight of this auction and they proved themselves right as few towering bids were seen as the teams went all-out to acquire the players of their choice. Siddharth Desai acquired the highest bid as he garnered INR 1.45 Crore or 145 Lakh from the Telugu Titans. Here's the list:
1) Chandran Ranjit- Dabang Delhi KC (FBM used) [₹70 Lakh]
2) Monu Goyat- U.P Yoddha [₹93 Lakh]
3) Nitin Tomar- Puneri Paltan (FBM used) [₹120 Lakh]
4) Prashanth Kumar Rai- Haryana Steelers [₹77 Lakh]
5) Rahul Chaudhari- Tamil Thalaivaas [₹94 Lakh]
6) Rishank Devadiga- U.P Yoddha (FBM used) [₹61 Lakh]
7) Shrikant Jadhav- U.P Yoddha (FBM used) [₹68 Lakh]
8) Siddharth Desai- Telugu Titans [₹145 Lakh]
Category B
Raiders:
The raiders from Category B gave us many surprises because many big names like Jasvir Singh, Kashiling Adake and Sukesh Hegde went unsold and it remains to be seen if they will be bought in the next round
1)Darshan Kadian- Puneri Paltan [₹23 Lakhs]
2) Deepak Narwal- Jaipur Pink Panthers [₹30.5 lakhs]
3)K. Prapanjan- Bengal Warriors [₹55 Lakhs]
4)Manjeet- Puneri Paltan [₹63 Lakhs]
5)Nilesh Salunkhe- Jaipur Pink Panthers [₹23.5 Lakhs]
6)Pawan Kumar - Puneri Paltan [₹20 Lakhs]
7)Rohit Baliyan- U Mumba (FBM used) [₹35 Lakhs]
All-Rounders:
1)Vijay Malik- Dabang Delhi KC [₹41 Lakhs]
2)Vinod Kumar- Gujarat Fortune Giants [₹26 Lakhs]
Defenders:
1) Rinku Narwal- Bengal Warriors [₹20 Lakhs]
2) Mohit Chillar- Tamil Thalaivas [₹40 Lakhs]
3) Jeeva Kumar- Bengal Warriors [₹31 Lakhs]
4) Dharmaraj Cheralathan- Haryana Steelers [₹38.5 Lakhs]
5) Sunil Siddhgavali- Jaipur Pink Panthers [₹20 Lakhs]
6) Vishal Mane- Dabang Delhi KC [₹28.5 Lakhs]
7) Ruturaj Koravi- Gujarat Fortune Giants [₹30.5 Lakhs]
8) Ravi Kumar- Haryana Steelers [₹20 Lakhs]
Foreign Players:
The foreign players auction can be a crucial one with respect to how this season pans out.
Here's the list:
Mohammad Esmail Nabibakhsh - Bengal Warriors [₹77.75 lakh]
Abozar Mohajer Mighani - Telugu Titans [₹75 lakhs]
Jang Kun Lee - Patna Pirates [₹40 lakh]
Saeed Ghaffari - Dabang Delhi [₹16.5 lakh]
Hadi Oshtorak - Patna Pirates [₹16 lakh]
Sanjay Shreshta - Bengaluru Bulls [₹10 lakh]
Milat Sheibak - Tamil Thalaivas [₹10 lakh]
Hadi Tajik - Puneri Paltan [₹10 lakh]
Young Chang Ko - U Mumba [₹10 lakh]
Lal Mohar Yadav - Bengaluru Bulls [₹10 lakh]
Amir Hossain Maleki - Haryana Steelers [₹12.5 Lakh]
Mohammad Maghsoudlou - Patna Pirates [₹35 lakh]
Mohammad Taghi - Bengal Warriors [₹15.5 lakh]
Dong Geon Lee - U Mumba [₹25 lakh]
Abolfazl Maghsoudlou - Gujarat Fortunegiants [₹15.5 lakh]
Emad Sedhagat Nia - Puneri Paltan [₹11.25 lakh]
Masud Karim - UP Yoddha [₹10 lakh]
Dong Gyu Kim - Jaipur Pink Panthers [₹10 lakh]
Malinda Chaturanga - Jaipur Pink Panthers [₹10 lakh]
D Jennings - Telugu Titans [₹10 lakh]
Tim Phonchoo - Haryana Steelers [₹10 lakh]