And that brings us to the end of the first day of the auction. It has been a pulsating day which saw Fazel Atrachali attract a bid of 1 crore to become the most expensive foreign buy, however, that record was shattered later this evening.
Deepak Niwas Hooda was the first player to breach the 1 crore mark when he was signed up by Jaipur Pink Panthers for a astounding 1.15 crore, while Nitin Tomar soon followed suit when he was taken by Puneri Paltans for the same amount.
Another big move was UP Yoddha's retention of Rishank Devadiga for 1.11 crore. The evening, though, belonged to one man, Monu Goyat. The ace raider, who was with defending champ Patna Pirates last year, was roped in by the Haryana Steelers for a mindblowing 1.51 crores, making him the most expensive player in PKL history.
9:15 pm: The last player to go under the hammer for today, Deepak Narwal, has been signed by the Patna Pirates for 57 lakh.
9:13 pm: Monu Goyat is officially the most expensive player in ProKabaddi league history at a price of 1.51 crores. Big, big scalp for the Haryana Steelers.
9:08 pm: SCRATCH THAT, WE HAVE ANOTHER RECORD! Monu Goyat has just set this auction on fire! The Haryana Steelers steal him away from Dabang Delhi's clutches for a jaw-dropping 1.51 crores.
9:00 pm: AND WE HAVE A NEW RECORD! Telugu Titans use the FBM card to retain 'Raid Machine' Rahul Chaudhari for an astounding 1.29 crores!
8:55 pm: Kashiling Adake heads to Bengaluru Bulls for 32 lakhs.
8:53 pm: Tamil Thalaivas rope in the experienced Sukesh Hegde for 28 lakh .
8:40 pm: Dabang Delhi ropes in Pawan Kumar for 20 lakhs .
8:38 pm: K. Prapanjan has been sold to the Gujarat Fortunegiants for 38 lakhs .
8:35 pm: UP Yoddha retains Rishank Devadiga using the FBM card to pip Dabang Delhi's massive offer of 1.11 crore! This is getting intense!
8:30 pm: Wazir Singh goes to Haryana Steelers for 20 lakhs .
8:28 pm: UP Yoddha signs up Shrikant Jadhav for 38 lakhs .
8:25 pm: Jaipur Pink Panthers acquire the services of Anup Kumar for 30 lakhs .
8:22 pm: AND WE HAVE A RECORD-EQUALLING BID BY PUNERI PALTAN! The Paltans snap up ace raider Nitin Tomar for 1.15 crore!
8:30 pm: Nitin Tomar, who was the most expensive player at 93 lakhs until today, is the first raider to go under the hammer.
The raiders are up next! Stay tuned.
8:00 pm: And the Jaipur Pink Panthers get their man Sandeep Dhull for 66 lakhs .
7:56 pm: My oh my, after the Jaipur Pink Panthers offer 75 lakhs for Surender Nada , the Haryana Steelers swoop in to retain him using the FBM.
7:53 pm: The Tamil Thalaivas use the FBM to hold on to ace defender Darshan J .
7:50 pm: Bengaluru Bulls use the FBM to retain Mahender Singh .
7:47 pm: Will Mohit Chillar become the most expensive defender this year? Jaipur Pink Panthers splurge 58 lakhs to sign him!
7:43: What a fierce battle here! UP Yoddha finally wins the bid to sign Jeeva Kumar for 45 lakhs .
7:41 pm: Gujarat Fortunegiants retain Parvesh Bhainswal using the FBM.
Earlier in the day, Fazel Atrachali became the most expensive foreign player in PKL history. How did the foreign players fare in the auction? Read here
7:40 pm : The defenders go under the hammer now and Parvesh Bhainswal at a base price of 20 Lakh.
Good job, guys!
7:25 pm: WE HAVE A NEW RECORD HERE! The Jaipur Pink Panthers, after an intense round of bidding, sign up Deepak Niwas Hooda for a staggering 1.15 crore! Talk about making a statement!
7:16 pm: Defending champ Patna Pirates signs Kuldeep Singh for 22 lakh .
7:15: That's interesting. Manjeet Chillar barely evoked any interest and was finally signed by Tamil Thalaivas for his base price of 20 lakh . Quite strange to see how there were hardly any bids for Manjeet, who was the Jaipur captain last year. The Thalaivas swooped in at the last moment to prevent him from going unsold.
7:13: It's the Bengal Warriors again as they lap up Shrikant Tewthia for 25 lakh !
7:10: RETAINED! Ran Singh has been retained by the Bengal Warriors using the FBM!
Ran Singh is the first one to go under the hammer tonight. Base price of 20 lakh. Some intense bidding here, bids have gone upto 40 lakhs!
We are just minutes away from the auction of the Indian players. The teams are ready, the players are, so are we and we hope you are ready too!
Head over to our Twitter to vote!
The A-list Indian kabaddi stars, including the likes of Rahul Chaudhari, Anup Kumar, Manjeet Chillar and Deepak Niwas Hooda go under the hammer at 6:30 pm. Stay tuned to this space for more.
And that concludes the end of the second round of the overseas player auction. Some of the biggest buys include Fazel Atrachali's 1 crore move to U Mumba, Telugu Titans snapping up Abozar Mighani for 76 lakh and Bengal Warriors signing Jang Kun Lee for 33 lakh.
5:25 pm: Fazel Atrachali on joining U Mumba: "I am so happy to join U Mumba, my second home. I am so happy to have a contract with U Mumba."
5:20 pm: Korean all-rounder, Gyung Tae Kim has been taken by Bengaluru Bulls for 8 lakh .
5:17 pm: Defending champ Patna Pirates signs all-rounder Hyunil Park for 8 lakh .
5:15 pm: Jae Min Lee , ROK, left-corner defender, previously with Jaipur Pink Panthers, has been sold to Tamil Thalaivas for 8 lakh .
5:10 pm: U Mumba owner Ronnie Screwvala says, "We have invested 1 crore on Fazel because teams which have hadbetter defences have won PKL."
And we're back!
4:46: And that brings an end to a fierce first round of bidding. The unsold overseas players unsold will be up for auction again in 10 minutes from now. Stay tuned!
4:45 pm: Haryana Steelers in the mix now! The side shells out 8.4 lakh to grab Bangladeshi raider Md. Zakir Hossain .
4:42 pm: UP Yoddha has roped in Bangladesh's Sulieman Kabir for his base price of 8 lakh .
4:40 pm: Thailand's Khomsan Thongkham has been signed up by Dabang Delhi for 8 lakh.
4:35 pm: Dong Geon Lee , who was previously Tamil Thalaivas, has been sold to Gujarat Fortunegiants for 17.2 lakh .
4:25 pm: Young Chang Ko , ROK, left-cover defender, previously Bengal Warriors, sold to Jaipur Pink Panthers for 11.4 lakh .
4:20 pm: Iran's Hadi Tajik , right-corner defender, who was previously with UP Yoddha has been roped in by U Mumba for 11 Lakh .
4:12 pm: Dong Ju Hong has been sold to Bengaluru Bulls for 8 Lakh .
4:09 pm: Hyunil Park (ROK), Dong Gyu Kim (ROK), Tin Phonchoo (Thailand), Chia-Ming Chang (China-Taiwan), Gyung Tae Kim (ROK), Mohammad Shazid (Bangladesh) and Chrispine Otieno (Kenya) go unsold.
4:05 pm: Patrick Nzau (Kenya, all-rounder) sold for 8 lakh to Haryana Steelers .
4:03 pm:Puneri Paltan makes its first signing. Nepal's Sanjay Shrestha joins the Paltans for 8 Lakh .
4:03 pm:Tamil Thalaivas join the party! The side ropes in Korean all-rounder Chan Sik Park for 8 Lakh .
4:02 pm: Kenya's Victor Onyango becomes first unsold player.
4:02 pm: UP Yoddha ropes in Koran all-rounder Seong Ryeol for 8.2 lakh .
4 pm: Iranian raider Abolfazl , who was previously with Dabang Delhi, has been acquired by U Mumba for Rs 21.25 lakh.
3:55 pm: Iranian defender Farhad Rahimi has been retained by Telugu Titans using the FBM card.
3:49 pm: The Bengal Warriors are at it again! After retaining Jang Kun Lee, the side has now roped in Bangladeshi defender Ziaur Rahman for 33.25 Lakh !
3:45 pm: Gujarat FortuneGiants sign Iranian all-rounder Hadi for 12 Lakh .
3:40pm: Korea's Jang Kun Lee has been retained by Bengal Warriors using the Final Bid Match option for 33 lakhs .
3:35 pm: Fellow Iranian
Fazel Atrachali has been sold to U Mumba for a whopping
one crore !
This makes Fazel the costliest player in PKL history!
3:30 pm: SOLD! Abozar Mighani , who was part of the FortuneGiants last year, has been snapped up for 76 lakh by Telugu Titans . That's a huge move, considering that Gujarat did not even choose to use the Final Bid Match option.
It's time! Stay tuned for live updates from the auctions.
1:22 pm: AB: "The final bid match throws a new concept into the auction process, making it exciting. I cannot say what Jaipur Pink Panthers' strategy is because two of our rivals (Patna and Tamil Thalaivas) are alongside me."
1:17 pm: Abhishek Bachchan, "The day isn't far away when the anticipation for PKL will be same as IPL."
1:15 pm: Abhishek Bachchan, "When we sat for first-ever PKL auction, we had only four people from the media. It is growing exponentially and it will grow more."
1:00 pm: Charu Sharma, PKL director: "Patna Pirates winning the PKL for three seasons in a row is an incredible achievement."
12:15 pm: Midway through day one of PKL 2018 auction and the league commissioner, Anupam Goswami, along with owners of Tamil Thalaivas (N. Prasad), Patna Pirates and Jaipur Pink Panthers (Abhishek Bachchan) are about to start a press conference. It will be followed by auction for overseas players in the afternoon.
11:40 AM: The players who weren't picked will move to Category D and will be auctioned with the other players.
11:30 AM: The New Young Players draft is over and the final list is awaited. Eighty seven players from the Future Kabaddi Heroes Programme , with a fixed price of Rs 6.6 lakh, were in the auction pool.
Hello and welcome to Sportstar's live blog of the Pro Kabaddi League auctions. The auction is scheduled to take place today and tomorrow at Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre.
422 players set to go under the hammer, which includes 58 overseas players from nations such as Bangladesh, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Republic of Korea, among other countries. The auction pool also includes 87 players from the Future Kabaddi Heroes programme.
READ: PKL auctions: Kabaddi's 'gen next' in the fray
The players have been split into five categories (A, B, C, D, and New Young Players). The players in Categories A, B, C, and D have been set a base price of Rs 20, 12, 8, and 5 lakh respectively, while the New Young Players have a fixed price of Rs 6.6 lakh.
Of the 12 teams, only nine have exercised the option to retain their star performers. Patna Pirates and Puneri Paltan have retained four players each, the maximum number a franchise is allowed to. Jaipur Pink Panthers, U Mumba, and UP Yoddha have chosen to not retain any of the players from last season and will use the auction to build a completely new squad.
