India's Pawan Sehrawat set the record of being the costliest player at Pro Kabaddi League for the second consecutive year after he was picked by Telugu Titans for whopping Rs 2.60 crore at the auctions. A total of 595 players are up for auction this year. Sehrawat was picked up by Tamil Thalaivas for Rs 2.26 crore in season nine auctions. On Monday, Haryana Steelers, UP Yoddhas, Telugu Titans and Bengaluru Bulls were engaged in a bidding war for Sehrawat, who played a vital role in India's victory over Iran in the Asian Games final as the team clinched the gold medal. (More Kabaddi News)
But before the Indian reclaimed the record on the first of the two-day auction here, Iran's Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh had emerged as the costliest after he was bought for Rs 2.35 crore by Puneri Paltan in category A.
India's Maninder Singh was also among high demand as he was roped in by Bengal Warriors for Rs 2.12 crore.
A total of 137 matches will be played in the 10th edition of PKL. As many as 132 league stage matches will be followed by the playoff comprising five matches — two eliminators, two semifinals and the final.
The base price in category A was Rs 30 lakh, category B was Rs 20 lakh whereas in categories C and D, the base prices were placed at Rs 13 lakh and Rs 9 lakh respectively.
For Iran captain Shadloui (all-rounder), whose latest appearance was in the Asian Games final against gold medal winners India, there was intense bidding right at the start which also reset the record of costliest player — for both Indian and overseas.
U Mumba and Gujarat Giants began the bidding and were soon joined by Puneri Paltan and Telugu Titans. The Iranian was eventually picked up by Puneri Paltan for Rs 2.35 crore as Patna Pirates, his former team, did not exercise their right of Final Bid Match (FBM).
"We needed someone on the left. We came with the mindset of picking him up at the auctions," Puneri Paltan coach BC Ramesh told the media.
Gujarat Giants bagged Fazal Atrachali for Rs 1.60 crore, with the star Iranian player also attracting the biggest bid for a defender in the tournament auction’s history.
India’s all-rounder Rohit Gulia went to Gujarat Giants for Rs 58.50 lakh with Patna Pirates once again option against using their FBM.
All-rounder Vijay Malik saw bids being made by Bengal Warriors and UP Yoddhas, who were joined by Telugu Titans and U Mumba. He was acquired by UP Yoddhas for Rs 85 lakhs with his former team Dabang Delhi KC deciding against using FBM.
Indian raider Maninder, who has played for Jaipur Pink Panthers and Bengal Warriors, attracted heavy bidding in category A. He was roped in by Telugu Titans for Rs 2.12 crore but eventually went to Bengal Warriors, who used their FBM to retain the player.
Manjeet attracted bids from Tamil Thalaivas and Patna Pirates, who took him for Rs 92 lakh with Haryana Steelers not using FBM. Tamil Thalaivas bagged Ashu Malik for Rs 96.25 lakh but Dabang Delhi KC used their FBM option to retain the player.
Dabang Delhi also roped in Guman Singh for Rs 85 lakh, who was initially picked up by U Mumba and added Meetu Sharma for Rs 93 lakh.
Benglauru Bulls picked up Vikash Khandola for Rs 55.25 lakh while Siddharth Desai went to Haryana Steelers for Rs 1 crore, who also picked up Chandran Ranjit for Rs 62 lakh.
There were no bidders for Sandeep Narwal, Deepak Niwas Hooda, Ashish, Manoj Gowda, Sachin Narwal, Gurdeep, Ajinkya Kapre and Vishal Bhardwaj.
The two-day auction began on Monday with 12 teams bidding for players, both Indian and overseas, from categories A and B. The auctions for categories C and D will take place on Tuesday.
