Pro Kabaddi Auction 2022: 5 players who were surprisingly released by their teams
With Pro Kabaddi (PKL) Auction 2022 only four days away, the level of excitement in the kabaddi universe is sky high. The 12 PKL franchises have released their respective lists of retained players.
Some expected names feature on the list, but there are some notable absentees as well. The franchises have decided to let go of some of their top performers from the eighth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League.
Here's a list of the top five most surprising releases made by teams ahead of Pro Kabaddi Auction 2022.
#1 Bengaluru Bulls shockingly released Pawan Sehrawat ahead of Pro Kabaddi Auction 2022
Bengaluru Bulls have dropped a bombshell ahead of the Pro Kabaddi Auction 2022. The Season 6 champions have released their captain Pawan Sehrawat despite the fact that he has scored heaps of raid points in the last few PKL seasons.
For the record, Sehrawat was the No. 1 raider in the previous season with 244 raid points to his name from 24 matches. He single-handedly blew away the opposition teams in the majority of the games. His stupendous performance took the Bengaluru Bulls to the playoffs, but his name will be going under the hammer this weekend in Mumbai.
#2 Abhishek Singh, U Mumba
U Mumba named Abhishek Singh as their vice-captain ahead of the Pro Kabaddi League's eighth edition. He did a fantastic job for the Mumbai-based franchise, scoring 144 raid points in 22 matches.
Singh finished fifth on the Most Raid Points list. However, U Mumba did not name him in their list of retained players. It will be interesting to see if they buy him back at the auction.
#3 Deepak Hooda, Jaipur Pink Panthers
Despite being the most consistent all-rounder in Pro Kabaddi League history, Deepak Hooda failed to receive a place in the list of players retained by Jaipur Pink Panthers. The former Jaipur captain will go under the hammer once again in his PKL career.
Hooda was in fine form last year as he scored 100 raid points in just 17 matches. His raiding partner Arjun Deshwal has been retained by the Jaipur Pink Panthers ahead of the auction.
#4 Fazel Atrachali, U Mumba
U Mumba, too, have released their captain from Season 8, Fazel Atrachali. It looks like the team owners are unhappy with the team's failure to make it to the playoffs in the previous season.
As a result, both Fazel Atrachali and Abhishek Singh have been let go by the franchise. For the record, Fazel scored 48 tackle points in 22 matches last season.
#5 Siddharth Desai, Telugu Titans
Siddharth Desai scored more than 400 points across the sixth and seventh seasons in the Pro Kabaddi League. However, he could only play three matches for the Telugu Titans last season owing to injury issues.
Desai scored 35 points in those three games. The team failed to get going after he got injured and finished last in the points table with just one win.
Having missed a ton of matches last season, Desai has not received another chance to prove himself as the Titans have now released him ahead of Pro Kabaddi Auction 2022.