The two-day auction of the seventh edition of the VIVO Pro Kabaddi League came to an end yesterday with Gulveer Singh being the last player to be sold in the auction. A lot of domestic and overseas players had enrolled themselves in the auction, but not all of them were successful in finding a franchise.
Former U Mumba player, Siddharth Sirish Desai attracted the costliest bid of the auction worth 1.45 crores INR from the Telugu Titans. Nitin Tomar was the only other player to make it to the Crorepati club after Puneri Paltan spent heavily on the raider.
For the first time in Pro Kabaddi League history, a USA-based player was picked by a team after Telugu Titans picked Duet Jennings in the auction for 10 lakhs INR. Besides, Iranian defender Mohammad Nabibakhsh was purchased by the Bengal Warriors for a price of 77.75 lakhs INR.
There were also some big names which went unsold in the auction and here is the composition of a team of prominent players who were unfortunate to miss out on a buyer -
Unsold VII
Raiders: Jasvir Singh (c), Kashiling Adake, Mahendra Ganesh Rajput
Defenders: Rohit Rana, Sachin Shinghade, Darshan J.
All Rounder: D. Pradap
One of the biggest names in the sport of Kabaddi and a Kabaddi World Cup winner, Jasvir Singh going unsold in the auction raised a lot of eyebrows. The smiling assassin has immense experience and can also control the pace of the game with his raids. Last year, he was a part of the Tamil Thalaivas but this year, he had been released by the franchise ahead of the auction, and Singh did not attract any buyers in the player auction.
The raiding department of this team will be handled by Kashiling Adake and super-sub Mahendra Ganesh Rajput. While Adake had been a star for the Dabang Delhi in the initial seasons, Rajput was the most reliable raider of the Gujarat Fortunegiants in the previous two seasons.
The mask-man Rohit Rana, the beast Sachin Shinghade and the rock-solid Darshan J. will form the core of the defense. While the former two defenders have a ton of PKL experience, Darshan J. had been playing fearlessly in the defense department of Tamil Thalaivas for the past seasons.
All-rounder D. Pradap was the only top all-rounder who did not get a buyer in the auction. Hence, he will play vital roles in both the raiding and defense departments of the unsold seven.
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