Pro Kabaddi teams have left out a number of big names from their rosters as they announced the final list of elite retained players ahead of the auction scheduled for August 29.
A total of 59 players were retained across all three categories with 22 in the elite category, six in the retained young players category, and 31 in the new young players category as teams begin assembling their squads for eighth season slated to take place in December.
Arguably the biggest name to not be retained is Patna Pirates’ Pardeep Narwal who will in the auction for the first time since attaining stardom in the league with his exploits for the side. Narwal was instrumental in the Pirates’ hat-trick of triumphs but after failing to reach the playoffs last time out, the Pirates may have decided to move in another direction. Of course, they can still recruit him back in the auction.
Ajay Thakur, Deepak Niwas Hooda, Rohit Kumar, Rishank Devadiga, Monu Goyat, Manjeet Chillar and Rahul Chaudhari are some of the other notable players to have not been retained by the respective teams.
Among the top retained players, Benagluru Bulls’ Pawan Sehrawat leads the way along with Dabang Delhi’s Naveen who has been retained under the retained young players’ category.
U Mumba have decided to hold onto Iranian defender Fazel Atrachali. Defending champions Bengal Warriors have also retained top performers Maninder Singh and Mohammed Esmail Nabibakhsh for the upcoming season that is being planned for December.
Gujarat Fortunegiants, who failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time last season, have decided to hold onto Parvesh Bhainswal and Sunil Kumar. The centre-chain duo was also instrumental in helping Indian Railways win their third straight national championship title in April.
The Pro Kabaddi auction will take place from August 29-31 in Mumbai.
Here is the full list of Elite Retained Players by all teams.
List of elite retained players
| TEAM | PLAYER 1 | PLAYER 2 | PLAYER 3 | PLAYER 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bengal Warriors | Maninder Singh | Mohammad Esmaeil Nabibakhsh | Rinku Narwal | - |
| Bengaluru Bulls | Pawan Kumar Sehrawat | Amit Sheoran | - | - |
| Dabang Delhi K.C. | Vijay | Neeraj Narwal | - | - |
| Gujarat Giants | Parvesh Bhainswal | Sunil Kumar | - | - |
| Haryana Steelers | Vikash Khandola | - | - | - |
| Jaipur Pink Panthers | Amit Hooda | Vishal | - | - |
| Patna Pirates | Neeraj Kumar | Monu | - | - |
| Puneri Paltan | Balasaheb Shahaji Jadhav | Pawan Kumar (Kaidan) | Hadi Tajik | - |
| Tamil Thalaivas | - | - | - | - |
| Telugu Titans | Rakesh Gowda | - | - | - |
| U Mumba | Fazel Atrachali | Abhishek Singh | Ajinkya Rohidas Kapre | Harendra Kumar |
| U.P. Yoddha | - | - | - |
Notable exclusions:
Bengal Warriors - K Prapanjan, Jeeva Kumar, Sukesh Hegde.
Bengaluru Bulls - Rohit Kumar, Mahender Singh.
Dabang Delhi - Joginder Narwal, Vishal Mane, Ravinder Pahal, Meraj Sheykh.
Gujarat Giants - Sachin Tanwar.
Haryana Steelers - Dharmaraj Cheralathan, Prashanth Kumar Rai.
Jaipur Pink Panthers - Deepak Niwas Hooda, Nilesh Salunkhe, Deepak Narwal, Sandeep Dhull.
Patna Pirates - Pardeep Narwal, Jang Kun Lee, Jaideep, Hadi Oshtorak.
Puneri Paltan - Surjeet Narwal, Nitin Tomar, Girish Ernak.
Tamil Thalaivas - Ajay Thakur, Rahul Chaudhari, Mohit Chhillar, Manjeet Chhillar, Ran Singh.
Telugu Titans - Abozar Mohajermighani, Siddharth Desai, Farhad Milagardhan.
U Mumba - Sandeep Narwal.
UP Yoddha - Monu Goyat, Rishank Devadiga, Shrikanth Jadhav.
The Category A domestic players auction will be broadcast on 30th August on the Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar.