Pro Kabaddi League 2017 auction: 10 costliest buys; full list of players bought

New Delhi, May 23: The players' auction for the fifth edition of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) sprang up few surprises day one and two of its auction.

As Kabaddi is getting immensely popular amongst Indian audiences, since the advent of the Pro Kabaddi League, the players are now raking in the moolah in the auctions.

Franchises are now indulging in fierce bids to snap young as well as experienced players.

The auction on Day 1 came as a surprise when raider Nitin Tohar emerged as the top buy after he drew the costliest bid for a whopping Rs 93 lakh by GMR-owned Team Uttar Pradesh.

Tomar was part of India's World Cup-winning squad in Ahmedabad last year was followed by star all-rounder Manjeet Chillar and defender Surjeet Singh.

Among the retained players, South Korean Jang Kun Lee was retained by Bengal Warriors Rs 80.3 lakh while Bengaluru Bulls retained Asish Kumar.

Dabang Delhi reained the services of Meraj Sheykh, Patna Pirates retained Pardep Narwal while Deepak Hooda will continue to serve Puneri Paltan.

Rahul Chaudhari and India captain Anup Kumar were retained by their respective franchises Telugu Titans and U Mumba, respectively. Jaipur was the lone team to get all fresh faces.

The fifth season of the PKL will see four new franchises while VIVO will be the new title sponsors for the next five years.

The four new franchises will be represented by Iquest Enterprises Private Limited (Consortium) (Tamil Nadu), Adani Group (Gujarat), GMR Group (Uttar Pradesh) and JSW Group (Haryana).

Here are the top buys from the PKL season five auction:

1. Nitin Tomar - Rs 93 lakh

Raider Nitin Tomar shattered all records to emerge the costliest-ever player to be bought in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) auction. He was snapped for a whopping Rs 93 lakh by GMR-owned Team Uttar Pradesh.

2. Rohit Kumar - Rs 81 lakh

Raider Rohit Kumar bagged Rs 81 lakh from Bengaluru Bulls. He has been one of the most successful raiders in the league.

3. Manjeet Chillar - 75.5 lakh

All-rounder Manjeet Chillar was bought by Jaipur Pink Panther.

He was a member of the World Cup-winning squad in Ahmedabad last year. He used to ply his trade for Bengaluru Bulls before moving to Puneri Paltans in the earlier seasons of the PKL.

Surjeet Singh - Rs 73 lakh

Bengal Warriors bagged the services of the Surjeet Singh (in pic) by spending Rs 73 lakh. They also bought all-rounder Ran Singh for Rs 47.5 lakh for the upcoming fifth season of the tournament.

Rajesh Narwal - Rs 69 lakh

Among other all-rounders in the domestic Category A of elite players, Rajesh Narwal was bought by Team Uttar Pradesh for Rs 69 lakh.

Jaipur Panther owner Abhishek Bachchan tried his best to retain Rajesh but the new franchise from UP pipped the rest of the competition.

Sandeep Narwal - Rs 66 lakh

Puneri Paltan succeeded in roping star all-rounder Sandeep Narwal for Rs 66 lakh. Narwal played the last season for Telugu Titans and will now be seen in Pune colours.

7. Amit Hooda - Rs 63 lakh

Among the defenders, last season's second best tackler Amit Hooda emerged the second costliest and was bought by Tamil Nadu for a whopping Rs 63 lakh.

The Sachin Tendulkar-owned franchise also bought Anil Kumar for Rs 21.5 lakh.

8. Jeeva Kumar - Rs 52 lakh

Jeeva Kumar was the third highest among the defenders and was bought by Team UP for Rs 52 lakh. He played for U Mumba in the previous season.

Image Courtesy: U Mumba

9. Kuldeep Singh - Rs 51.5 lakh

U Mumba succeeded in catching another big fish in Kuldeep Singh for Rs 51.5 lakh. He had earlier played for Jaipur before going to defending champions Patna Pirates until 2016.

10. Jasvir Singh - Rs 51 lakh

Jaipur Pink Panthers once again acquired Jasvir Singh for Rs 51 lakh. He has been part of the franchise from the first season. He will now partner Manjeet Chhillar as the raider.

# Promising raider Suraj Desai was purchased by Dabang Delhi for a whopping Rs 52.5 lakh for his services.

# Defender Jaideep was bought by the Patna Pirates for Rs 50 lakh.

# Nilesh Salunke was bought by Telugu Titans for Rs 49 lakh to strengthen their attack.

# Bengaluru Bulls splurged Rs 46 lakh for defender Sachin Kumar.

# Bengal Warriors invested Rs 45.5 lakh to fetch raider Maninder Singh.

# Team Haryana bagged the services of raider Wazir Singh for Rs 44 lakh.

# Dabang Delhi laid their hands on defender Bajirao Hodage for Rs 44.50 lakh.

# Jaipur Pink Panthers got defender Somvir Shekhar for Rs 40.5 lakh.

# Junior National Championships bronze medallist Sachin was bought by Gujarat for Rs 36 lakh.

# Delhi shelled out for Rs 35 lakh for raider Rohit Baliyan.

# Delhi bought defender Sunil for Rs 21 lakh. He has played for U Mumba and Patna Pirates previously.

# Mumbai spent Rs 30.50 lakh for purchasing defender D. Suresh Kumar.

# Puneri Paltan picked up raider Rohit Kumar Choudary for Rs 28.5 lakh.

# Raider Surendra Singh went for Rs 28.5 lakh to Team Uttar Pradesh.

# Raider Deepak Narwal was sold to Bengal Warriors for Rs 25.5 lakh.

# Defender Manoj Dhull was bought by Jaipur Pink Panther for Rs 21.5 lakh.

# Raider Prashant Kumar Rai will play for Haryana, who bought him for Rs 21 lakh.

# Defender Mahender Singh bought by Bengaluru Bulls for Rs 20 lakh.

# Raider Gurvinder Singh bought by Bengaluru Bulls for Rs 16.2 lakh.

# Defender Sandeep went for Rs 17.8 lakh by Patna.

# Defender Manish was bought by Patna for Rs 12 lakh and raider Jawahar Rs 12 lakh.

# Raider Vishnu Uthaman (Rs 23 lakh) bought by Patna Pirates.

# Defender Virender Singh (Rs 12.2 lakh) Patna Pirates.

# All-rounder Mahipal Narwal bought by Gujarat for Rs 13.4 lakh.

# Defender Vikas Kale bought by Gujarat for Rs 12.6 lakh.

# Defender Anil Kumar bought by Tamil Nadu for Rs 11 lakh.

# Defender Rakesh Kumar purchased by Haryana for Rs 11 lakh.

# Defender Pradeep Narwal bought by Bengaluru Bulls for Rs 8.8 lakhs.

# Defender Kuldeep Singh bought by Bengaluru Bulls for Rs Rs 8 lakh.

# Defender Santosh bought by Uttar Pradesh for Rs 8 lakh.

# Raider Ajvender Singh bought by Uttar Pradesh for Rs 8 lakh.

# Iranian players were also most sought after players, with defender Abozar Mohajermighani being sold at a whopping Rs 50 lakh to Team Gujarat.

# Following Abozar are his national teammates Abolfazel Maghsodlo, Farhad Rahimi, Hadi Oshtorok and Mohammad Maghsoudlou, who were bought by various franchises here.

# Defender Abolfazel was the second most expensive player so far in the auctions, and was bought by Dabang Delhi for Rs 31.8 lakh.

# Defender Farhad went to the Telugu Titans for Rs 29 lakh while all-rounder Hadi was purchased by U Mumba for Rs 18.6 lakh.

# Star defender Mohit Chillar, who was also a member of the World Cup winning team went for Rs 46.5 lakh to Haryana.

# Former Patna Pirates skipper Dharmaraj Cherlathan went for Rs 46 lakh to Puneri Paltan, who also bought Ernak for Rs 33.50 lakh.

# Patna splurged Rs 42.5 lakh for hiring Sachin Shingade besides purchasing Vishal Mane for Rs 36.5 lakh.

# Dabang Delhi bought Nilesh Shinde for Rs 35.5 lakh while Joginder Singh Narwal went to U Mumba for Rs 25 lakh.

# Rohit Rana was bought by Telugu Titans for Rs 27.5 lakh while Sandeep Dhul was the only Indian to go unsold in this year's auction and was pushed to the reserves list.

# Thailand raider Khomsan Thongkham was bought for 20.40 Lakhs by Team Haryana. Thongkham was the highest raider for his team in the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup.

# Bangladeshi defender Ziaur Rahman was bought by Puneri Paltan for Rs 16.6 lakh while his national teammate Sulieman Kabir went to Team Uttar Pradesh for Rs 12.6 lakh.

# South Korean all-rounder Donggyu Kim was bought by Puneri Paltan for Rs eight lakh along with Japanese all-rounder Takamitsu Kono for the same price.

# U Mumba also bought South Korean all-rounder Yongjoo Ok Korea for Rs 8.10 lakh.

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