Pro Kabaddi Auction 2019: Rating the twelve squads
The Pro Kabaddi League season seven auctions came to a close on the 9th of April as a total of 200 players received new deals across the two days of the mega auctions as the twelve teams spent a total of ₹50 crore overall.
U Mumba's ace raider from season six Siddharth Desai penned the second-costliest deal in the history of the PKL as the Telugu Titans broke the bank to secure his services for ₹1.45 crore while Puneri Paltan shelled out ₹1.20 crore to re-sign the services of Nitin Tomar.
Stalwarts such as Rahul Chaudhari (₹94 lakh) and Monu Goyat (₹93 lakh) were forced to settle for less owing to their moderate show last season while Sandeep Narwal raked in the riches as U Mumba paid out a sum of ₹89 lakh to add him to their roster.
In the foreign players' category, Iranians Mohammad Nabibakhsh (₹77.75 lakh- Bengal Warriors) and Abozar Mighani (₹75 lakh - Telugu Titans) claimed the top honors while Jang Kun Lee found a new team for the upcoming season as he was snapped up by the Patna Pirates for ₹40 lakh.
With a number of players switching loyalties to a couple of players finding their spot back in their season six franchise, we rate the twelve teams ahead of season seven of the Pro Kabaddi League.
U Mumba - 5/10
The season two winners retained skipper Fazel Atrachali and along with him youngsters such as Arjun Deshwal, Gaurav Kumar, Surinder Singh, and Rajguru Subramaniam. From the auctions, U Mumba shelled out a whopping ₹89 lakh for the services of Sandeep Narwal, while their next costliest purchase was Rohit Baliyan, who re-joined the team for a price of ₹35 lakh.
Strengths
The defensive unit is certainly the biggest strength with the two corner positions set to be occupied by two of the best in the world, Fazel Atrachali and Sandeep Narwal. Add Surinder Singh's aggression to the mix, the trio could form a good combination.
Weaknesses
Good quality raiders, who can strike big.
Last season, U Mumba had Siddharth Desai in their ranks and he single-handedly won matches for U Mumba. However, with Desai no more a part of the team, the onus will be on Rohit Baliyan to assume the lead raiders' role and for support will be the likes of Athul MS, Abhishek Singh amongst others, who are yet to prove their full potential.