Raider Siddharth Desai stole the show on day one of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season seven players' auction when he was bought by Telugu Titans for a whopping ₹1.45 crore on Monday.
FOLLOW DAY 2 OF PKL AUCTIONS HERE
The attacker from Sangli in Maharashtra had earned plaudits with his stellar show in the last season of the PKL.
Other notable buys on day one were raider Nitin Tomar, retained by Puneri Paltan for ₹1.20 crore, Rahul Chaudhari bought by Tamil Thalaivas for ₹94 lakh, Monu Goyat to UP Yoddha for ₹93 lakh and all-rounder Sandeep Narwal going to U Mumba for ₹89 lakh.
Despite teams releasing players ahead of the auction, as many as six defenders and four raiders were retained by teams using the Final Bid Match (FBM) card — an indication of teams looking for continuity as they transition from one season to another.
The evening started with Ran Singh going under the hammer. With a base price of ₹30 lakh, Gujarat Fortunegiants, Patna Pirates and Tamil Thalaivas were engaged in a bidding war which was won by Tamil Thalaivas, securing his services for ₹55 lakh. Bengal Warriors opted not to use its FBM card on the all-rounder.
Related: Siddharth 'ready to dance' after becoming costliest buy
That set the ball rolling for a very interesting evening, strategy-wise, with all category A defenders, raiders and all-rounders going big.
It was however the raiders who stole the limelight. Siddharth, on the back of fantastic debut season with U Mumba, saw Telugu Titans going gung-ho with an opening bid ₹100 lakh, ₹70 lakh more than his base price. That set Titan's stance to get his signature and it eventually did for ₹145 lakh.
The winning bid for Siddharth was still Rs ₹6 lakh below the record price paid for Bhiwani’s Monu Goyat by Haryana Steelers last year.
Related: Top five buys at the auction
Puneri Paltan retained no players as it aimed to start on a fresh slate under the helm of World Cup-winning ex-India captain Anup Kumar, but it couldn't let go of Nitin Tomar.
At ₹120 lakh, Tamil Thalaivas thought it won a three-way battle for Tomar with UP Yoddha and Gujarat but Puneri raised its FBM card even before auctioneer Chris Cowdrey could ask, if they wanted to exercise the option.
Here is the full list of players sold from category A:
Iranians go big
Earlier in the day, Iranians were the most sought after in the foreign players category. Abozar Mighani, last season's second-costliest foreign player, started with a base price of just ₹30 lakh but Patna Pirates outbid five other teams with a bid of ₹75 lakh. However, Telugu Titans used its FBM option to retain the Iranian for ₹1 lakh less than what it bought him a year ago.
Mohammad Esmaeil Nabibakhsh, who was signed by Bengal Warriors for a league record ₹77.75 lakh, was another big buy in the foreign players category.
The morning also saw the first American player enter PKL fray when Telugu Titans signed 27-year-old NFL player Dewitt Jennings.
Two Koreans were also in the fray. Jang Kun Lee (₹40 lakh by Patna Pirates) and Dong Geon Lee (₹25 lakh by U Mumba) saw buyers.
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