More than 190 players were sold to 12 franchises in the auction for the eighth season of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) that is bound to start in December. Raider Pardeep Narwal became the highest-paid kabaddi player in PKL's history. A total of 10 New Young Players (NYP) were picked up at the auction.
All teams spent a combined amount of Rs 48.22 crore. Narwal, the costliest player was bought by UP Yoddha for Rs 1.65 crore, while Siddharth Desai was retained by the Telugu Titans for Rs 1.30 crore.
Rahul Chaudhari, another star, will play for Puneri Paltan. Tamil Thalaivas managed to get raider Manjeet, who joined them from Puneri Paltan at 92 lakh.
All rounder Rohit Gulia was sold to Haryana Steelers for Rs 83 lakh. He was sold for 25 lakhs last season. Some other big buys were Sachin (Patna Pirates) for Rs 84 lakh and Chandran Ranjit - Bengaluru Bulls - for Rs 80 lakh.
Raider Arjun Deshwal, from the B Category, was bought up by Jaipur Pink Panthers for Rs 96 lakh.
Puneri Paltan successfully retained raider Nitin Tomar for 61 lakhs while all-rounder Sandeep Narwal was snapped up by Dabang Delhi KC for Rs 60 lakh.
Veteran raider Ajay Thakur also found himself a new home with Dabang Delhi KC who bought the former India captain for Rs 46 lakh.
Over 22 overseas players were sold on the second day. Iranian all-rounder Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh was the most expensive foreign signing as three-time champions Patna Pirates bought him for Rs 31 lakh. Abozar Mohajermighan, another Iranian was bought for Rs 30.5 lakh by Bengal Warriors.
Patna Pirates also used one of their two FBM cards to retain Republic of Korea's raider Jang Kun Lee for Rs 20.5 lakhs whereas, Telugu Titans bought Japanese defender Tetsuro Abe for Rs 10 lakh.
Puneri Paltan bought Sombir for Rs 34.5 lakh while U Mumba and Jaipur Pink Panthers spent Rs 32 lakh and Rs 20 lakh on Rinku Narwal and Amit.
(With Inputs from PTI)