PKL 2021: From Pradeep Narwal’s 1.65 cr bid to surprise package Arjun Deshwal, top 5 talking points from Pro Kabaddi League 2021 auction – The Pro Kabaddi League auction for 2021 season was as thrilling as any of its seasons. Many things changed in this year’s auction and it was meant to be as the Kabaddi fans will get to see their favourite sports live after an interval of two long years. Pradeep Narwal becomes the costliest player in the history of PKL Auctions while Arjun Deshwal was the surprise package of the auction.
We at Insidesport will take you through everything that transpired during the three days of the PKL auction.
Record-breaker Pardeep Narwal breaks yet another record
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐮𝐱! ⚕️
First of his name 🤩
Dubki King of the #vivoProKabaddiLeague 👑#vivoPKLPlayerAuction Record-Breaker 🤯
And now Weapon Extraordinaire of @UpYoddha ⚔️What do you expect from him, dear subjects? 😀 pic.twitter.com/0FxEXW1Diz
— ProKabaddi (@ProKabaddi) September 1, 2021
It was another-day-another-record for Pardeep Narwal as he became the most expensive player to be bought in a Pro Kabaddi auction. The Record Breaker’s Base Price of 30 lakh was immediately taken over a crore within the first couple of bids and he eventually went to U.P. Yoddha for 1.65 Crore. Narwal will be seen with another franchise for the first time since his entry in Patna Pirates in Season 3.
The only other player to surpass the 1 Crore mark was Baahubali, Siddharth Desai. He was also set to join U.P. Yoddha but Telugu Titans swooped in with their Final Bid Match (FBM) card to retain the raider. It was one of 10 FBM cards used throughout the auction. U.P. Yoddha’s Shrikant Jadhav was the next most expensive player it was used for at 74 Lakh.
The Rahul Chaudhari and Ajay Thakur partnership seen in season 7 at Tamil Thalaivas also came apart and Chaudhari was bought by Puneri Paltan and Thakur went to Dabang Delhi K.C. Along with Thakur, Dabang Delhi K.C. also bought Manjeet Chhillar, Joginder Narwal, Jeeva Kumar, and all-rounder Sandeep Narwal to bolster the team with experience. On the way, Narwal became the second-most expensive all-rounder at 60 Lakh.
Among Category A all-rounders, it was young Rohit Gulia who generated the most interest before finally being picked up by Haryana Steelers for a price of 83 Lakh. Gulia was a regular feature with Gujarat Giants so far and even led the side for the latter part of Season 7. He became the most expensive player from Mashal Sports’ Future Kabaddi Heroes grassroots programme to be bought at the auction.
The international flavour from South Korea and Iran
𝙵̶𝚞̶𝚕̶𝚕̶ ̶𝙱̶𝚊̶𝚕̶𝚕̶𝚎̶𝚛̶ ̶𝙼̶𝚘̶𝚍̶𝚎̶ Final Bid Match 😎
Which franchise has used the FBM card perfectly in the #vivoPKLPlayerAuction? pic.twitter.com/awzdjBuCgK
— ProKabaddi (@ProKabaddi) August 31, 2021
The overseas player auction was also an interesting one as Patna Pirates decided to use their Final Bid Match card for Jang Kun Lee who is the highest-scoring overseas player in the league. He was the only overseas player the card got used for as Fazel Atrachali and Mohammad Nabibakhsh were retained by their respective team ahead of the auction.
Interest in Iranian players remained high as Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh became the most expensive overseas player of the auction at 31 Lakh, followed by Corner Abozar Mohajer Mighani. This will be Chiyaneh’s maiden PKL stint and Patna Pirates will have high hopes from the all-rounder.
Japan will also be represented this season in the form of Telugu Titans’ defender Abe Tetsuro.
Star in making – Arjun Deshwal
Arjun Deshwal was the talk of the town among the Category B players. Jaipur Pink Panthers broke the bank to secure the services of the former U Mumba raider for an astounding price tag of 96 Lakh. Deshwal came into his own in Season 7 scoring 106 points from 19 matches including the highest single-match tally of 15 points.
Nitin Tomar was another big buy-in Category B. Puneri Paltan used their FBM card to secure the services of the raider for 61 Lakh. He was the team’s most expensive purchase in the Pro Kabaddi Season 8 auction as well as the most expensive Category B player to be sold.
Manjeet was another youngster whose franchises got behind. Tamil Thalaivas picked up the raider for 92 lakh as their focus remained on backing young talent this season. Cover Surjeet Singh was their other expensive buy at 75 Lakh making him the most expensive defender to be sold in the season 8 auction.
Sukesh Hegde was the other Category B-raider who got picked up using an FBM card. He returned to Bengal Warriors with whom he had won the Season 7 Pro Kabaddi trophy.
The return of Sandeep Kandola
Telugu Titans went big to get Corner Sandeep Kandola back into their fold. Kandola will be returning to the league after an impressive display in Season 2 where he scored 70 points from 16 matches including a 10-point haul in a single match. He was the biggest buy among Category C players at 59.5 Lakh.
The other two Category C players who got a lot of interest were all-rounder Brijendra Singh Chaudhary and Corner Sombir. Chaudhary came in a close second at 55 Lakh (Haryana Steelers) and Sombir reached 34.5 Lakh (Puneri Paltan).
NYP’s at auction
A total of 10 new players from the NYP (New Young Player) category were picked up by the teams during the auction. Among the drafted players were Mohit Goyat who went to Puneri Paltan, Prince who went to Telugu Titans, Nitin Panwar who went to U.P. Yoddha, and Govind Gurjar who was bought by Puneri Paltan.
These uncapped NYPs were among those who featured in the auction from Mashal Sports’ Future Kabaddi Heroes programme that serves to unearth hidden talent among kabaddi players between the ages of 18 and 25.
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