Pro Kabaddi League Auction 2018: Full list of players bought by Bengaluru Bulls
When the Pro Kabaddi League was institutionalised in 2014, the Bengaluru Bulls had some big match players in the squad such as skipper Manjeet Chhillar, Ajay Thakur amongst others and labelled as the team to beat, finished third.
The following season they went one step ahead going all the way till the finals where they lost agonisingly to U Mumba.
In the next season, the form dropped drastically as the Bulls finished seventh on the table with only two wins to show from 14 games.
Ahead of the fourth season, the Bulls roped in Season three's MVP Rohit Kumar but the fortunes did not change as they finished sixth with five wins from 14 games and in the fifth season, missed out narrowly from a spot in the playoffs.
Ahead of the auctions this time around, Bengaluru retained skipper Rohit Kumar and along with him three talented youngsters in Harish Naik, Amit Sheoran and Sumit Malik.
In the auctions, the Bulls picked the Korean duo of Dong Ju Hong (₹8 lakh) and Gyung Tae Kim (₹8 lakh), in a last ditch-attempt to pick a foreigner.
As part of category A, the Bulls watched as U Mumba, Patna and Haryana battled to pick young defender Mahender Singh as they later exercised the 'FBM' card to buy him at ₹40 lakh.
However, the spotlight undoubtedly fell on the purchase of Kashiling Adake, one of the leading raiders in the league for a paltry ₹32 lakhs, a steal by any living measure.
The Bulls were content to watch the proceedings during the auction of players from category 'B' with their only purchase being that of all-rounder Ashish Kumar Sangwan for ₹23.5 lakh after exercising their final 'FBM' card to snatch the youngster from the Fortunegiants' final bid.
Category 'C' attracted a lot of attention from the Bulls as they made as many as six buys, including a massive ₹52.8 lakh purchase of ex-Bulls raider Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, a young raider who has constantly earned praise from the Bulls' coach apart from useful additions of Maruti Magdum (₹8 lakh) and defenders Jawahar Vivek K (₹8 lakh), Sandeep (₹8 lakh), Mahendra Dhaka (₹8 lakh) to go with the infusion of some local talent in the form of raider Anand V (₹8 lakh) and right corner defender Nitesh BR (₹8 lakh).
The Bulls made three other buys during the final round where the unsold players were called for and made smart buys to fill the gaps in the form of Raju Lal Choudhary, Jasmer Gulia and talented youngster Rohit.
With the raiding department taken care of by the deadly duo of Rohit Kumar and Kashiling Adake, the slightly inexperienced yet effective defence unit is more than capable of springing a couple of surprises.
Full list of Bengaluru Bulls squad for Season 6
Raiders:
Rohit Kumar [Retained] - ₹89.1 lakh
Kashiling Adake - ₹32 lakh
Pawan Kumar Sehrawat - ₹52.8 lakh
Harish Naik [NYP] - ₹10 lakh
Sumit Singh [NYP] - ₹10 lakh
Rohit - ₹8 lakh
Anand V - ₹8 lakh
Defenders:
Mahender Singh - ₹40 lakh
Raju Lal Choudhary - ₹8.8 lakh
Jawahar Vivek K - ₹8 lakh
Sandeep - ₹8 lakh
Mahendra Dhaka - ₹8 lakh
Nitesh B R - ₹8 lakh
Amit Sheoran [NYP] - ₹6.6 lakh
All-rounders:
Ashish Kumar Sangwan - ₹23.5 lakh
Mahesh Maruti Magdum - ₹8 lakh
Jasmer Gulia - ₹8 lakh
Dong Ju Hong - ₹8 lakh
Gyung Tae Kim -₹8 lakh
Will the current squad propel Bengaluru Bulls to glory this season? Have your say in the comments section below!