Ultimate Kho Kho Season 2 player draft to be held on Tuesday, 275 players in the fray

Odisha Juggernauts, Chennai Quick Guns, Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Khiladis, Rajasthan Warriors, and Telugu Yoddhas are the six teams that will be participating in the tournament.

Players in action during an Ultimate Kho Kho game. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The season two player draft of the Ultimate Kho Kho (UKK) will kick off in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, November 21, where six franchises will bid from a pool of 275 players.

Odisha Juggernauts, Chennai Quick Guns, Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Khiladis, Rajasthan Warriors, and Telugu Yoddhas are the six teams that will be participating in the tournament.

With a total allotted purse of INR 3.90 crore, each franchise will have 35 draft rounds to complete their team combinations with a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 35 players, a release from the UKK said.

While 18 players have been retained by the teams, the remaining players have been put under the A, B, C, and D categories. Category A players are priced at INR 5 lakh, and category B players will be awarded INR 3 lakh. and the C and D have been kept in the bracket of INR 1.5 lakh and 1 lakh, respectively.

Franchisees will have the option to select players based on their respective draft sequence and purse capacity.

“In all, 293 players are in the pool have been divided into three segments. The 18 players retained by the franchisees fall in the Power Players category. Players who were part of Season 1 but have not been retained are known as Pole Players. While the new set of players recommended either by the franchisees or the Kho Kho Federation of India will be called Dream Players,” the release stated.

Defending champion Odisha Juggernauts has retained four players from the last season, while Chennai Quick Guns has retained three players, including Player of the Tournament Ramji Kashyap and Young Player of the Tournament Madan. Meanwhile, the Gujarat Giants have held on to the Defender of the Tournament, Abhinandan Patil, among two others.

Mumbai Khiladis retained two players, Gajanan Shengal and Sreejesh S, from the previous season. The other two teams, the Rajasthan Warriors and Telugu Yoddhas, have retained three players each.

Live Streaming Details

Season 2 of the UKK will be broadcast live on Sony Pictures Networks India sports channels as well as live streamed on Sony LIV.