PKL auctions: Yoddhas, Dabang Delhi hog limelight on day two

UP Yoddha pulled off the marquee signing of the day by spending Rs 79 lakh on Prashant Kumar Rai, a raider from Karnataka.

A file photo of Patna Pirates defenders trying to catch Dabang Delhi raider Prashant Kumar Rai. The raider was snapped up by UP Yoddha for Rs 79 lakh.

Dabang Delhi, which had a hefty purse balance of Rs 2.8 crore at the end of day one of the auction, stole the show in the second day of the Pro Kabaddi League player auctions as it was involved in most of the biddings for Category B players in the morning session.

Chandran Ranjit (Raider, Rs 61.25 lakh), Vishal Mane (Right-cover defender, Rs 45 lakh), Joginder Narwal (Left-corner defender, Rs 33 lakh), Viraj Vishnu (Left-cover defender, Rs 25 lakh) were the first of Dabang Delhi’s signings as the franchise wasting no time in securing its main targets. Rajesh Narwal, a Category C All-rounder, was another of Dabang Delhi’s acquisitions, albeit later.

Read: As the auction happened - Prashant Kumar costliest buy at 79 lakhs

UP Yoddha pulled off the marquee signing of the day by spending Rs 79 lakh on Prashant Kumar Rai, a raider from Karnataka. It was Dabang Delhi which opened the bidding for him and joined by Telugu Titans, but a winning bid was nowhere in sight. Bengaluru Bulls then joined and withdrew itself after a bid of Rs 57.5 lakh. Patna Pirates and UP Yoddha joined the bidding late but it was the latter which secured his signature with a massive bid of Rs 79 lakh.

Another low spender on day one, U Mumba, which had a purse balance of Rs 2.28 crore ahead of day two, pounced on the right and left-corner defender Dharmaraj Cheralathan, aged 43, from Telangana, securing his services for Rs 46 lakh. He was one of the stars of a Puneri Paltan team that reached the knockout stages of PKL 2017.

Ruturaj Shivaji became the costliest pick of the Category C players in the morning session, when Gujarat Fortunegiants bought him for Rs 30.4 lakh. Sachin Vittala was another defender added to Fortunegiants’ roster for Rs 20 lakh.

A majority of the Category C domestic defenders went unsold in the morning session, with none of the franchises entering the bidding.

In the afternoon session, however, the demand for Category C raiders was felt when three raiders were picked up for heavy amounts: Pawan Kumar (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 52.8 lakh) was the biggest pick, while prices U Mumba paid for Abhishek Singh (Rs 42.8 lakh) and Siddharth Sirish Desai (Rs 36. 4 lakh) weren’t far off either.

Also, after the Category D players were auctioned, the franchises picked their nominations (from unsold players in all the Categories: A, B, C, and D) for the final round of auction. Then, Tamil Thalaivas picked up Right and Left-corner Defender, D. Gopu, for his base price of Rs 8 lakh, with N. Shiva Ramakrishna, Rahul Lal Chaudhary, Abhinandan Chandel, among others, getting picked by the franchises ahead of the sixth season of PKL.

The only Category A domestic player who had gone unsold on day one, Ravinder Pahal, came up for auction as part of the nominations. Dabang Delhi picked him at his base price of Rs 20 lakh.

Tamil Thalaivas did not make any big-money signing on day two as well, with its costliest purchases being Sunil, Jasvir Singh and Surjeet Singh for Rs 12 lakh each. Jaipur Pink Panthers and Telugu Titans had a fairly quiet second day having done much of their business on day one. 

The focus now shifts to the start of season VI in October, when Patna Pirates will aim to win a fourth crown in a row having had a good auction. U Mumba, Haryana Steelers, Telugu Titans, Puneri Paltan, Jaipur Pink Panthers have been astute and invested in players with a good track record from the seasons gone by, therefore, they will believe they can have good seasons too.

List of players sold and unsold

Category B Sold: Prashant Kumar Rai (UP Yoddha, Rs 79 lakh), Chandran Ranjit (Dabang Delhi, Rs 61.25 lakh), Dharmaraj Cheralathan (U Mumba, Rs 46 lakh), Baldev Singh (Bengal Warriors, Rs 12 lakh), Rajaguru Subramanian (U Mumba, Rs 12 lakh), Sunil (Tamil Thalaivas, Rs 12 lakh), Rohit Rana (U Mumba, Rs 12 lakh), Sachin Shingade (Haryana Steelers, Rs 20 lakh), Jasvir Singh (Tamil Thalaivas, Rs 12 lakh), Vikash Khandola (Haryana Steelers, Rs 47 lakh, FBM), Vinod Kumar (U Mumba, Rs 22.25 lakh), Mahesh Goud (Bengal Warriors, Rs 12 lakh), Sagar Krishna (UP Yoddha, Rs 14.25 lakh), Viraj Vishnu (Dabang Delhi, Rs 25 lakh), Vishal Mane (Dabang Delhi, Rs 45 lakh), Joginder Narwal (Dabang Delhi, Rs 33 lakh), Ravi Kumar (Puneri Paltan, Rs 16 lakh, FBM), Ashish Kumar (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 23.50 lakh), Darshan Kadian (U Mumba, Rs 12 lakh), Surender Singh (Patna Pirates, Rs 12.25 lakh), Surjeet Singh (Tamil Thalaivas, Rs 12 lakh), Shabeer Bappu (Dabang Delhi, Rs 15.5 lakh), Ajay Kumar (Gujarat Fortunegiants, Rs 25 lakh), K. Selvamani (Jaipur Pink Panthers, Rs 15 lakh, FBM), Deepak Kumar Dahiya (Puneri Paltan, Rs 12 lakh), R. Sriram (U Mumba, Rs 12 lakh), Tushar Patil (Patna Pirates, Rs 20 lakh), Amit Kumar (Bengal Warriors, Rs 8 lakh) Unsold: Prem Singh, Santhosh BS, Kuldeep Singh, Somvir Shekhar, Rakesh Kumar, D. Suresh Kumar, Bhupendra Thakur, G. U. Jothiramalingam, Abhinandan Kumar, Ravi Kumar, Rohit Balyan, Vikas Kumar Daiya, R. Suresh Kumar, Sanjay Sharma

Category C Sold: Rajesh Narwal (Dabang Delhi, Rs 16 lakh), Vittal Meti (Bengal Warriors, Rs 8 lakh), Mahesh Maruti Magdum (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 8 lakh), Narender (UP Yoddha, Rs 8 lakh), Bhupender Singh (Bengal Warriors, Rs 8 lakh), K. Jawahar Vivek (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 8 lakh), Anil Kumar (Dabang Delhi, Rs 8 lakh), Sandeep (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 8 lakh), C. Manoj Kumar (Telugu Titans, Rs 8 lakh), Vinod Kumar (Puneri Paltan, Rs 20.2 lakh), Mahendra Singh Dhaka (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 8 lakh), Bajirao Hodage (Jaipur Pink Panthers, Rs 14.6 lakh), Vijin Thangadurai (Bengal Warriors, Rs 8.4 lakh), Adinath Gavali (U Mumba, Rs 8 lakh), Vikas Kale (Patna Pirates, Rs 27.4 lakh), Ruturaj Shivaji (Gujarat Fortunegiants, Rs 30.4 lakh), Sachin Vittala (Gujarat Fortunegiants, Rs 20 lakh), Sachin Kumar (UP Yoddha, 19.2 lakh), Sankeet Chavan (Telugu Titans, Rs 8 lakh), B. R. Nithesh (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 8 lakh), Nitin Mavi (UP Yoddha, Rs 8 lakh), Rohit Kumar Choudary (UP Yoddha, Rs 8 lakh), Shubham Ashok (Gujarat Fortunegiants, Rs 8 lakh), Parvesh (Puneri Paltan, Rs 8 lakh), Gangadhari Mallesh (Jaipur Pink Panthers, Rs 8 lakh), Pawan Kumar (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 52.8 lakh), M. S. Atul (Tamil Thalaivas, Rs 9.2 lakh), Vikas Jaglan (Patna Pirates, Rs 8 lakh), Siddharth Sirish Desai (U Mumba, Rs 36.4 lakh), Arjun Deshwal (U Mumba, Rs 8 lakh), Sunil Siddhgavali (Jaipur Pink Panthers, Rs 8 lakh), Manjeet (Patna Pirates, Rs 20.4 lakh), Anil Kumar (Tamil Thalaivas, Rs 8 lakh), Akshay Jadhav (Puneri Paltan, Rs 8 lakh), Kamal Kishor Jat (Dabang Delhi, Rs 8 lakh), V. Anand (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 8 lakh), Abhishek Singh (U Mumba, Rs 42.8 lakh), Amit Nagar (Bengal Warriors, Rs 8 lakh), Rakesh Narwal (Bengal Warriors, Rs 8 lakh), Anand Patil (Jaipur Pink Panthers, Rs 8 lakh),

Category D Sold: Brijendra Singh Chaudhary (Jaipur Pink Panthers, Rs 5.6 lakh), Armaan (Telugu Titans, Rs 5 Lakh), Prateek (Haryana Steelers, Rs 5 lakh), V. Vimal Raj (Tamil Thalaivas, Rs 5 lakh), Vishav Chaudhary (UP Yoddha, Rs 5 lakh), Bajrang (Puneri Paltan, Rs 5 lakh), Amit Singh (Haryana Steelers, Rs 5 lakh), Anuj Kumar (Telugu Titans, Rs 5 lakh), Deepak (Telugu Titans, Rs 5 lakh), Anand Surendra Tomar (Haryana Steelers, Rs 5 lakh), Yashwant Bishnoi (Gujarat Fortunegiants, Rs 5 lakh), Bhuvneshwar Gaur (Haryana Steelers, Rs 5 lakh)

Nominations Sold: D. Gopu (Tamil Thalaivas, Rs 8 lakh), Rohit Baliyan (U Mumba, Rs 12 lakh), N. Shiva Ramakrishna (Jaipur Pink Panthers, Rs 8 lakh), K. Jayaseelan (Tamil Thalaivas, RS 8 lakh), Rahul Lal Choudhary (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 8.8 lakh), Ravinder Pahal (Dabang Delhi, Rs 20 lakh), Rakesh Singh Kumar (Telugu Titans, Rs 12 lakh), Sidharth (Dabang Delhi, Rs 12 lakh), Abhinandan Chandel (Tamil Thalaivas, Rs 8 lakh), Mahender Reddy (Telugu Titans, Rs 8 lakh), Bhanu Pratap Tomar (UP Yoddha, Rs 8 lakh), Dharmender (Gujarat Fortunegiants, Rs 5 lakh), Rohit (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 8 lakh), Jasmer Gulia (Bengaluru Bulls, Rs 8 lakh), Yogesh Hooda (Dabang Delhi, Rs 8 lakh), Amit Jaivir Sharma (Gujarat Fortunegiants, Rs 8 lakh), Ravinder Kumar (Patna Pirates, Rs 8 lakh), , Manoj Dhull (Bengal Warriors, Rs 8 lakh), Vijay Kumar (Patna Pirates, Rs 8 lakh), Ashish (Bengal Warriors, Rs 8 lakh).