Pro Kabaddi League 2019 Auction: Most expensive playing 7
The Pro Kabaddi League season 7 auction took place on the 8th and 9th of April, where a total of 442 players went under the hammer. Some extreme bidding wars and unanticipated changes took place.
Siddharth Sirish Desai, the mojo player who made a debut from U Mumba last year, became the priciest player of season 7 after Telugu Titans bagged him for a leviathan price of ₹145 lakhs.
Nitin Tomar, after Puneri Paltan used their Final Bid Match card on him, became the second costliest player with ₹120 lakhs in his bag.
Surprisingly enough, Monu Goyat, Rahul Chaudhari and Rishank Devadiga weren't even able to cross the one crore mark.
While Chaudhari became a part of some other team, i.e., Tamil Thalaivas for the first time, UP Yoddhas bought both Rishank Devadiga and Monu Goyat for a pretty reasonable price.
Mahender Singh, one crucial player from the defending champions Bengaluru Bulls' squad, was declared the most expensive defender of the auction. Bulls' management whipped their FBM cards out and bought him for ₹80 lakhs.
Talking of foreign players, Mohammad Esmaeil Nabibaksh became the costliest player after Bengal Warriors cashed out ₹77.75 lakhs for him. Abozar Mighani also being a lucky charm, was brought back by Telegu Titans for ₹75 lakhs.
Let us now have a look at the most expensive playing seven of this year's installment of Pro Kabaddi League:
Raiders
Siddharth Desai: Siddharth Sirish Desai, the paradigm of excellence, who made a debut last season from U Mumba, became the most expensive player of the auction getting the fattest check worth ₹145 lakhs from Telugu Titans.
The teams insisted on having his bid start directly from one crore. Undoubtedly, almost every team wanted him. The biggest shocker of the night was U Mumba's denial of the use of FBM on him.
Well, the player is promising as we all know, but he has just been part of a single season and experience is crucial. Desai has scored a total of 221 points in just 21 matches.
Nitin Tomar: Nitin Tomar has been in the headlines ever since he became the most expensive player in season 5. Tomar's price has then increased with each passing season.
During the season 7 auction, a good amount of teams wanted him to be a part of their squad. However, Puneri Paltan played their Final Bid Match card and made Nitin a part of the squad for ₹120 lakhs.
This 24-year-old raider made a debut in season 3 representing the Bengal Warriors and has scored 394 points in 53 matches till date.
Rahul Chaudhari: Rahul Chaudhari made a debut in the first season of the league, from Telugu Titans. Known as the poster boy ever since the inception of PKL, he is the current holder of the best raider's position.
Chaudhari was a part of the Titans since the first season until they decided to release him for the seventh edition of the league.
At the auctions, Tamil Thalaivas won his bidding at ₹94 lakhs. Now, Rahul will be seen wearing the golden-blue robes of the Thalaivas in the upcoming season.
This tall-raider has scooped in a total of 876 points in 100 matches and also became the first player to crack the 800-point mark in the league.