On Day 1 of the Pro Kabaddi Season 10 Player Auction, we saw the players from Categories A and B going under the hammer.
The highly intense bidding for Pawan took off just like his nickname, Hi-Flyer, and moved from his base price to a crore after the teams engaged in a bidding war. Teams like Telugu Titans, Bengaluru Bulls, and Haryana Steelers were in the fray, but it was Telugu Titans that managed to secure him for the Titans’ camp with an INR 2.605 crore bid.
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The Iranian all-rounder was the second most expensive player of the night, acquired by Puneri Paltan for an amount of INR 2.35 crore. In the Category A player’s list, all eyes were on Maninder Singh’s bid, and he was also expected to go big at the Auction. Super Mani was pursued by teams like Puneri Paltan, Telugu Titans, Bengaluru Bulls, and Dabang Delhi K.C. After all the hard work put in by these teams, it was Bengal Warriors who used their Final Bid Match (FBM) to secure Maninder Singh for their side.
The most successful defender in Pro Kabaddi history, Fazel Atrachali, was sought after by many teams in the Season 10 Player Auction. However, it was his Season 5 franchise, Gujarat Giants, who managed to bring the left corner back to their side for a whopping amount of INR 1.60 crore. This also marked the highest bid for a defender in PKL’s history.
For Baahubali Siddharth Desai, Bengaluru Bulls and Haryana Steelers were engaged in an intense bidding war, after which Haryana Steelers secured the deal for a crore. With this bid, Siddharth Desai became the fifth most expensive player on Day 1 of the Player Auction.
Among the other Category A players who went under the hammer were Rohit Gulia, who returned to his first Pro Kabaddi franchise, Gujarat Giants, for INR 58.50 lakhs. The seasoned all-rounder Vijay Malik was acquired by U.P. Yoddhas for INR 85 lakhs, and Manjeet was bought back by his first PKL team, Patna Pirates, for INR 92 lakhs.
Fazel Atrachali will be joined by Mohammad Nabibakhsh in the Gujarat Giants squad, who was purchased for INR 22 lakhs. The Giants used their FBM to retain Arkam Shaikh in their side. Nitin Rawal was sold to Bengal Warriors for INR 30 lakhs, and U Mumba acquired Girish Ernak at his base price of INR 20 lakhs. He will be joined by Mahender Singh in the camp.
Bengal Warriors used their FBM to retain Shubham Shinde in their team, and Sombir will be donning Gujarat Giants’ colours in the Season 10 campaign. Vishal was bought by Bengaluru Bulls at his base price, while Sunil went to Dabang Delhi K.C. for the same price. Bengal Warriors used their FBM once again to retain Shrikant Jadhav in their side for INR 35.25 lakhs.
Dabang Delhi K.C. and U Mumba used their FBMs to retain Ashu Malik and Guman Singh in their teams for INR 96.25 lakhs and INR 85 lakhs, respectively. Meetu moved to Dabang Delhi K.C. for INR 93 lakhs. Bengaluru Bulls made a smart move by retaining their Season 9 raider Vikash Kandola for INR 55.25 lakhs, and Haryana Steelers snapped up the experienced Chandran Ranjit for INR 62 lakhs.
Some top names, including players like Sandeep Narwal, Deepak Hooda, Ashish, Sachin Narwal, Gurdeep, Ajinkya Kapre, and Vishal Bhardwaj, went unsold at the Season 10 Player Auction.
Most expensive raiders of Day 1:
Pawan Sehrawat – Telugu Titans
Maninder Singh – Bengal Warriors
Siddharth Desai – Haryana Steelers
Most expensive defenders of Day 1:
Fazel Atrachali – Gujarat Giants
Mahender Singh – U Mumba
Shubham Shinde – Bengal Warriors
Most expensive all-rounders of Day 1:
Mohammadreza Chiyaneh – Puneri Paltan
Vijay Malik – U.P. Yoddhas
Rohit Gulia – Gujarat Giants