Star raider Pawan Kumar Sehrawat created history by becoming the costliest buy on the first day of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 9 Player Auction held in Mumbai on Friday, August 5. Guman Singh emerged as the most expensive Category B. This player has been bought by U Mumba for Rs 1.21 crore. This player auction also saw a jump from two players in the previous player auction to four players in the 1 crore club. Pardeep Narwal and Siddharth Desai were part of the 1 crore club last time, while Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, Vikas Khandola, Fazal Atrachali and Guman Singh were part of the 1 crore club in Friday’s player auction.
The 12 franchise teams were sold to a total of 30 players, with 4 Final Bid Match (FBM) cards being used on the first day. ,
made in history @Pro Kabaddi Players Auction. New record bid of 2.26 crores for Pawan Sehrawat! When we started the league we never dreamed that we would be able to bring so much fame and fortune to the players of our game from India so soon. https://t.co/zfnwoiVtec
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) 5 August 2022
PKL stars continue to dominate
The highlight of the auction was Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, who broke the all-time record after being bought by Tamil Thalaivas for Rs 2.26 crore. Meanwhile, Vikas Khandola got a new house in Bengaluru Bulls (a record he had till Pawan Kumar Sehrawat’s bid) after being bought for Rs 1.70 crore. The raider became the second most expensive buy ever in Pro Kabaddi League player auction history. Pradeep Narwal returned to UP Yoddha after the franchise used the Final Bid Match (FBM) card of Rs 90 lakh.
Iranian demands
Irani Kabaddi legend Fazal Atrachali broke the record for the most expensive defender and foreign player ever after being acquired by Puneri Paltan for Rs 1.38 crore. Atrachali had earlier held both the records when he was picked by U Mumba for Rs 1 crore in the 2018 Vivo Pro Kabaddi League Player Auction. While his compatriot, Mohammad Esmail Nabibaksh (F) was bought by Puneri Paltan for Rs 87 lakh.