Pro Kabaddi 2019 Auction: Pro Kabaddi League auction in Mumbai. (Source: PKL)
Pro Kabaddi League 2019 Auction: After first day’s frantic activity among the Indian Category A players at of the Pro Kabaddi League Auctions, the second day was less rapidfire with most teams taking time in finding their supporting cast to the main stars. Neeraj Kumar emerged as the biggest buy on Day 2 at Rs 44.75 lakh. Vikas Kale joined Haryana Steelers for Rs 34.25 lakhs, Naveen to Haryana Steelers for Rs 33.5 lakhs and Ajeet moved to Tamil Thalaivas at Rs 32 lakhs. (Who went where?)
On Day 1, Siddharth Desai emerged as the most expensive player at Rs 1.45 crore with Telugu Titans getting the services of young raider. Nitin Tomar, another raider, also entered the Crorepati club with Puneri Paltan retaining him for Rs 1.2 crore.
Rahul Chaudhari, who had been part of the Telugu Titans setup will play for Tamil Thalaivas when the new season gets underway after they spent Rs 94 lakhs on him.
Sandeep Narwal attracted Rs 89 lakhs while in the overseas category, Iran’s Esmaeil Nabibaksh came out as the most expensive foreign buy at Rs 77.75 lakhs – he is the second most expensive foreigner in PKL history.
Rs 50 crore spent across the teams in this auction. Siddharth Desai, at Rs 1.45 crore, the most expensive at this auction.
Everyone has met their minimum squad size of 18 players and everyone is happy with their squads. No more bringing in of unallocated players. With that, we bring to a close the PKL Auction for season VII.
Neeraj Narwal - sold to Dabang Delhi for Rs 6 lakhs
Aman - sold to Bengaluru Bulls for Rs 6 lakhs
Subhash Narwal - sold to Haryana Steelers for Rs 6 lakhs
Gulveer Singh - sold to UP Yoddha for Rs 10 lakhs
A Catefory D defender Satywan gets us going again. Dabang Delhi the only interested party and he joins them for Rs 6 lakhs
We're done with the regular pool of the auction. Now to ensure everyone gets a minimum of 18 players in their squad. A second round of unallocated players to begin soon. Teams putting in their choices to the organisers...
Vikas, a Category C defender, is the last one out of the bag. And he goes unsold. We're done! Now to verify if everyone has at least 18 players in their squad.
Ravinder - sold to Patna Pirates for Rs 10 lakhs
Sukesh Hegde - sold to Bengal Warriors for Rs 20 lakhs
Vinod Kumar - sold to Bengaluru Bulls for Rs 10 lakhs
Anil Kumar - sold to Dabang Delhi for Rs 20 lakhs
Athul MS - sold to U Mumba for Rs 20 lakhs
Sonu - sold to Gujarat Fortunegiants for Rs 10 lakhs
Harsh Vardhan - sold to U Mumba for Rs 10 lakhs
Bhuvneshwar Gaur - sold to Bengal Warriors for Rs 10 lakhs
Category C defender Vijay Kumar sees bidding war for him. Bengaluru Bulls and Puneri Paltan in it for him. He starts with base price of Rs 10 lakhs. Sold to Bengaluru Bulls for Rs 21.25 lakhs
Suraj Desai had gone unsold in the main auction. Now he comes back and joins his crorepati brother at Telugu Titans. He joins in for Rs 10 lakhs
First player out of the bag in unallocated players is Naveen - a Category B raider - with base price of Rs 20 lakhs. Gujarat Fortunegiants and Haryana Steelers in it. SOLD TO HARYANA FOR RS 33.5 LAKHS!
Dabang Delhi's CEO Sumeet Yadav: "Our strategy was to maintain conintuinity and keep the consistency from the fourth place finish last season. Our focus was on young talent to take them forward"
Coach: Krishan Kumar Hooda "Our strategy and discussion was on what kind of team to get. More than what we had planned, we have one more raider. I hope we do better than what we did last year. Defensively and in offence we are strong."
Yadav: "Naveen will lead our attack. Ranjeet was also among the top raiders last year and we have an experienced defence. According to our plan, things have gone about just the way."
Hooda: "Over the years, the player speed has increased. Ever since the first season of PKL, things have improved. Sherawat is one good example of that. More focus now on technique and strategy. It also helps that the games are on TV so people comment on strategy, subsitutuion, timing of the changes. People are critical of your job too. Things have changed from player to coaches. In strategy, we can use videos and see how
Hooda: "In PKL, given the length of the tournament, you have chance to recover if you started poorly. In nationals, the window is of three-four days so there is little to make a comeback."
"Players are helped along by coach, physio and dieticians to name a few. In nationals, coach is everything. PKL has helped developing the game and the mind of the players. A lot of the players have improved."
We have a maximum of 60 players up for grabs now. (12 teams * 5 players each) To verify everything is in place, we take a quick break once again as the organisers get things sorted.
Looks like it will be five players each for each team. Needed a unanimous decision to get seven players but two teams opposed the idea. The wait for resumption continues...
Upon request from one franchise, one team can now select seven domestic players to be called back into the auction Of the other 11, nine approve the idea and two oppose it. Democracy wins!
We will take a 10 minute break giving the teams five players to select from those unsold. Maximum of five domestic players can be picked by each team from the unallocated list. No overseas players allowed
Sonu Gahlawat - sold to Gujarat Fortunegiants for Rs 6 lakhs
Mula Siva Ganesh Reddy - sold to Telugu Titans for Rs 6 lakhs
Abhishek - sold to Gujarat Fortunegiants for Rs 8 lakhs
Rakesh Gowda - sold to Telugu Titans for Rs 6 lakhs
Ashish - sold to Patna Pirates for Rs 6 lakhs
Ankush - sold to UP Yoddha for Rs 6.25 lakhs
We are done with the defenders in Category D and we move to the raiders. Starting with Rakesh and he goes unsold. Mula Siva Ganesh Reddy is the second out of the bag and he goes to Telugu Titans for Rs 6 lakhs
First bidding war of the post-lunch session sees multiple takers for defender Jadhav Balasaheb Shahaji. Puneri Paltan and Gujarat Fortunegiants the interested franchises. Base price: Rs 6 lakhs. Goes to Puneri Paltan for Rs 10.25 lakhs
First player sold in the post-lunch session is Karamvir who goes to Jaipur Pink Panthers for base price of Rs 6 lakhs. No other bidders
We're back in with more players in Category C. No takers for any of the players who have come up so far.
Rakesh Kumar and Anup Kumar, coaches in the PKL, comes up for interaction: "Have had experience of teaching juniors and discussing with youngsters. So this is not very new to become a coach."
"There is a Diploma coach and there are categories in that too. But there is a leeway for Asian Games winners and medal winners to coach without a certificate."
"If you have good fitness, you can play in the league. There is a two month camp followed by three month league. If fitness is good, then you play even better."
Anup Kumar: "There were other offers from other franchises but I chose Puneri Paltan because of professionalism and good setup."
"If the defence is strong, we can do better. Better the defence, better will be the option for raiders to go on the attack."
Nitin Tomar in the team: "Nitin was injured last year. This time he has been bought for Rs 1.2 crore. During the camp, aim would be to keep him fit and use him best for the season ahead."
Rakesh: "I am from Haryana so I got the opportunity to coach Haryana Steelers and I took it. Always knew that if the offer came, I'd take it."
Last player out of the bag before the lunch break is Viyasamuni. And no takers for him. We will now have a 40 minute break. Be back after the grub!
Suraj Desai was the more prolific of the kabaddi players in the Desai household. Yesterday, his brother Siddharth Desai became the most expensive signing of this window at Rs 14.5 crore. Suraj, meanwhile, doesn't attract any bids and goes unsold.
Bit of an interest in Selvamani K who made his debut with Dabang Delhi in PKL 2. Puneri Paltan and Haryana Steelers in it for his services. He played 15 matches with 41 raid points last season. In Season 3, he picked 25 Do-Or-Die Raid Points, the third-highest tally that season. Next season, his best, he had 45 raid points and 27 of his 45 raid points came in Do-or-Die raids. Eventually, he heads to Haryana Steelers for Rs 16.5 lakhs
Category C raider Amit Kumar wakes up the auction room. Eventually goes to Puneri Paltan for Rs 12 lakhs
Abhishek Singh - retained by U Mumba for Rs 10 lakhs
Amit Kumar - sold to Telugu Titans for Rs 10 lakhs
We move on to Category C and to the raiders. First one out of the bag is Abhinav Kumar Singh and he goes unsold.
We're taking a five minute break before moving on to raiders soon. Lunch break will be at 1 PM for 40 minutes. We hope to get done with lion's share of players before the lunch break
Defender Ajeet, number 322, is the next out of the bag. Base price: Rs 10 lakhs. Tamil Thalaivas and UP Yoddha in contention for him. SOLD TO TAMIL THALAIVAS FOR RS 32 LAKHS!
Haryana Steelers in the lead at Rs 34.25 lakhs. Bengal Warriors opt out from bidding further and sold to Haryana Steelers!
Defender Vikas Kale enters with Rs 10 lakh base price. The 30-year-old right cover defender has suitors in Bengal Warriors and Haryana Steelers. Played for Patna Pirates last season. He had 39 points from 22 matches in the sixth season. Bidding crosses Rs 30 lakhs...
The bidding has reached beyond Rs 30 lakhs. Again, it is increasing at Rs 0.25 lakhs. Neeraj is 23-years-old and a right cover defender who was part of Haryana last season. However, he didn't play a single match. His PKL record: 17 matches last season with 13 tackle points. Patna Pirates get him for Rs 44.75 lakhs!
Defender Neeraj Kumar brings out a fierce bidding war. Enters the auction room with a price of Rs 10 lakhs. Bengal Warriors and Gujarat Fortunegiants with quick bidding. Patna Pirates are in it too.
Telugu Titans enter the bidding room with Rs 10 lakhs for defender C Arun. Tamil Thalaivas have option to exercise the FBM card but it is not used. Gone to Telugu Titans!
All-rounder Amit Santosh sold to Bengal Warriors for Rs 10 lakhs. No challenge from any other teams. We now move on to the Category C defenders
First bidding war of the morning is for all-rounder Vishal. Haryana Steelers and Jaipur Pink Panthers in contention for him. Base price of Rs 10 lakhs. A player with little experience of 11 matches to him and 18 tackle points from them. Haryana Steelers take it up to Rs 20 lakhs. Jaipur Pink Panthers acquire him for Rs 20.25 lakhs
Good Morning! We're in place for the second day's Pro Kabaddi auction. Focus on Category C and Category D players today. We're going through multiple names but no bids just yet. AR Avinash becomes the first player sold to Bengal Warriors for Rs 10 lakhs
That's it for Day 1 where we covered Overseas Players and Category A, B, C among the Indian players. Tomorrow, we once again go for Indian players in Category C and D. Again, you can see who went where by going here.
Jeeva Kumar - sold to Bengal Warriors for Rs 31 lakhs
Dharmaraj Cheralath - sold to Haryana Steelers for Rs 38.5 lakhs
Sunil Siddhgawali - sold to Jaipur Pink Panthers for Rs 20 lakhs
Vishal Mane - sold to Dabang Delhi for Rs 28.5 lakhs
Rituraj Koravi - sold to Gujarat Fortunegiants for Rs 30.5 lakhs
Ravi Kumar - sold to Haryana Steelers for Rs 20 lakhs
Deepak Narwal - sold to Jaipur Pink Panthers for Rs 30.5 lakhs
K Prapanjan - sold to Bengal Warriors for Rs 55.5 lakh
We move on to Category B of Defenders. Rinku Narwal is the first one out and he goes for base price of Rs 20 lakhs
We move on to Domestic players Category B. Starting with all-rounders. Get underway with Vijay and Bengaluru Bulls, Dabang Delhi in contention. Haryana Steelers join back in the bidding war. Goes to Dabang Delhi for Rs 41 lakhs
Puneri Paltan owner on not retaining any player: "We spoke to Anup Kumar and the decision was that we will start afresh and build the team from scratch."
Getting Surjeet and Girish for cheap: "I think yes we did get them for a good value. I think at this stage we have the money to go after more raiders."
On Nitin Tomar: "We had put him in a fitness rehan programme. He is back to kabaddi mat now. We're hoping his recovery period his short and he can hit his peak when the season gets underway."
Telugu Titans owner speak: "Siddharth Desai is someone who is young and energetic. We will keep him for five years or so and build the team around him. Keep him as the nucleus of things."
"For the first time we bought a player who plays NFL (Jennings). He plays running back. The fitness levels is different but if we can teach him the technique, then we might see a big star coming in next season."
Siddharth Desai who went for Rs 1.45 crore speaks: "I am in Mumbai and watching the auction. As soon as Telugu Titans bid Rs 1 crore for me, I started dancing. I was expecting Rs 70-80 lakhs."
"I am from a poor household. My father is a farmer and I am aware of the effort it takes to become a kabaddi sportsperson. I will help the young and local players with the money I've earned."
"I am working on my fitness, my diet and I will give 100% for my team."
Last raider out of the bag is Shrikant Jadhav. 23-year-old from Maharashtra with 244 raid points to his name. Haryana Steelers with a late bid after Bengal Warriors, Puneri Paltan also showing interest. SOLD TO Puneri Paltan for Rs 68 lakhs. UP Yoddha use their FBM!
One of the most ruthless raiders in PKL and extremely lethal in closing stages. 549 raid points for him from 103 matches. Haryana Steelers and Puneri Paltan interested. Sold to Puneri Paltan for Rs 61 lakhs before UP Yoddha exercise their FBM card
Second most raid points in PKL points - over 800 raid points. Base price of Rs 30 lakhs but we start at Rs 40 kakhs. Tamil Thalaivas and Puneri Paltan with the activity to get him. Tamil Thalaivas get him for Rs 94 lakhs
Last year's most expensive player at Rs 1.51 crore and the most expensive player overall is next out of the bag. UP Yoddha, Puneri Paltan are vying for him. Sold to UP Yoddha for Rs 93 lakhs
UP Yoddha and Tamil Thalaivas engaged in a bidding war for Nitin Tomar. Had been snapped by Tamil Thalaivas for Rs 1.20 crore before Puneri Paltan use their FBM card
Telugu Titans get him for Rs 1.45 crore! U Mumba have option to use the FBM and it is not exercised.
Siddharth Desai made a great audition last year in his debut PKL season. He starts with Rs 30 lakhs and immediately, out of nowhere, the bidding jumps to Rs 1 crore! Tamil Thalaivas, Telugu Titans in contention now with the bidding past the crore mark. Will we get the biggest ever bid? Monu Goyat went for Rs 1.51 crore last season
First raider out of the bag is Chandran Ranjit. Played for Dabang Delhi last season. 27-year-old from Tamil Nadu. Tamil Thalaivas, Telugu Titans, Puneri Paltan are in contention for him. Dabang Delhi use their FBM with the bidding standing at Rs 70 lakhs
A right corner defender out of the bag now. Played for Tamil Thalaivas last two seasons. Starts with Rs 30 lakhs. Haryana Steelers in it and so are Jaipur Pink Panthers. Haryana Steelers take it to Rs 50 lakhs and Jaipur Pink Panthers come back with their own upped bid. Jaipur Pink Panthers get him for Rs 53 lakhs and Tamil Thalaivas opt not to use the FBM card
Left cover defender from Himachal Pradesh, Mahender Singh is up next. Insane jump of bid from Telugu Titans and sold for Rs 80 lakhs. Bengaluru Bulls use their FBM card!
The 28-year-old left corner defender from Maharashtra, Girish Ernak is next out. Base price: Rs 30 lakhs. Sold to Gujarat Fortunegiants for Rs 33 lakhs. But Puneri Paltan use their FBM card! He stays in his own state for PKL 2019.
Surender Nada, with 222 tackle points, a Category A defender, is next out. He also enters with base price of Rs 30 lakhs. Patna Pirates and Puneri Paltan in contention. Well past the 2x mark. No one else jumping in for the 31-year-old. SOLD TO Patna Pirates for Rs 77 lakhs. FBM available to Haryana Steelers but they opt not to use it.
Earlier, Ravinder Pahal was acquired by Tamil Thalaivas before Dabang Delhi exercised their FBM card with the bid price set at Rs 61 lakhs
After a bit of a pause, U Mumba raise the padel to take it to Rs 87 lakhs. Dabang Delhi add a lakh again. U Mumba back in it with Rs 89 lakhs. Going one, going twice and sold! Sandeep Narwal sold to U Mumba for Rs 89 lakhs! Puneri Paltan opt not to use their FBM card
An experienced player in Sandeep Narwal next out of the bag. Base price of Rs 30 lakh. 229 raid points and 254 tackle points to his name from 101 matches. He played for Puneri Paltan last two seasons. Bengaluru Bulls, U Mumba and Dabang Delhi vying for his services. U Mumba take it to Rs 50 lakhs. Between U Mumba and Dabang Delhi now. The bidding past Rs 60 lakhs. U Mumba have taken it to Rs 85 lakhs. Dabang Delhi stay in it still.
199 tackle points, 90 raid points from Punjab. An all-rounder. Base price of Rs 30 lakhs. Gujarat Fortunegiants get things going. Tamil Thalaivas also in the fray. Patna Pirates enter too with Rs 40 lakhs. Tamil Thalaivas also stay in it. And they've upped the bidding to Rs 50 lakhs. Patna Pirates up it as well. Tamil Thalaivas get him for Rs 55 lakhs. Bengal Warriors opt not to exercise their FBM card.
Action moves to Indian players now. The auctioneer going through the rules once again for the TV audience. Auction is live on the Star Sports Network and Hotstar. BRING ON THE BAG! OFF WE GO!