The Pro Kabaddi League season 12 auction is happening in Mumbai. Day 1 of the auction has seen some high-octane moments. Iran’s Mohammadreza Shadloui, the first name in the action, was bought by Gujarat Giants for a whopping Rs. 2.23 crore. Mohammadreza Shadloui’s all-round efforts helped Haryana Stealers to win their maiden PKL title in Season 11. Shadloui won an impressive 139 total points. Equally effective in attack and defense, he amassed 57 raid points and 82 tackle points across 24 matches. Bengaluru Bulls and Patna Pirates fought aggressively before Gujarat Giants swooped in and bought the Iranian.
Major signings of the day
Ten players fetched at least one crore, the first time in the history of the PKL auction.
Category A players
A total of 12 players were auctioned in Category A. Nine of them found a new home, while 3 were retained by their current teams using FBM cards.
All-rounder Pawan Sehrawat went to Tamil Thalaivas for 59.5 lakhs.
Defender Fazal Atrachali went to Dabang Delhi for 30 lakhs.
Devank Dalal, the last name in the A category, fetched Rs. 2.205 crore from Bengal Warriorz. Patna Pirates retained Ankit Jaglan for Rs. 1.573 crore using the FBM card for one season.
FBM (Final Bid Match) card: Teams can retain a player for either one or two seasons to support long-term team building and greater team continuity. Previously, the FBM rule allowed teams to retain a player for only one season.
Category B players
Pardeep Narwal, one of the most decorated players in the history of the league went unsold in the auction. Sahil Gulia was the other player to go unsold.
Patna Pirates signed three players in the 2nd set. They retained all-rounder Ankit Jaglan for Rs. 1.573 crore and signed defender Sanket Suresh Sawant for 40.50 lakhs. Towards the end of the day, they spent 20 lakhs on Raider Maninder Singh. The defending champions Haryana Stealers finished the day on a high by making their first signing of the day. The Stealers bought raider Naveen Sansar Singh Kumar for Rs. 1.20 crore, six times his base price value of 20 lakhs.
