The Pro Kabaddi auction came to a close on Tuesday with teams spending over Rs 45 crore in total to complete their squads ahead of the eighth season.
Jaipur Pink Panthers and Telugu Titans were the highest spenders in auction spending Rs. 4.22 crores each while U Mumba were the lowest spenders at Rs 3.77 crores.
On Monday, Pardeep Narwal had become the most expensive player in the league’s history as UP Yoddha signed him for Rs 1.65 crore. Siddharth Desai received the second-highest bid as he was the only other player whose services were acquired by paying a fee of over Rs 1 crore as Telugu Titans got him for Rs 1.3 crores.
On Tuesday, Arjun Deshwal attracted the highest bid of Rs 96 lakhs from Jaipur Pink Panthers making him the third-most-expensive player in the auction.
The Pro Kabaddi season is expected to begin in December 26 months after the last season ended in October 2019.
Here’s what every team looks like at the end of the auctions:
Bengal Warriors
Bengal Warriors squad
| Defenders | All-Rounders | Raiders |
|---|---|---|
| Rinku Narwal | Manjoj Gowda K | Maninder Singh |
| Parveen | Mohammad Nabibakhsh | Ravindra Kumawat |
| Vijin Thangadurai | Rohit | Rishank Devadiga |
| Rohit Banne | Sumit Singh | |
| Darshan J | Sukesh Hegde | |
| Sachin Vittala | Akash Pikalmunde | |
| Abozar Mohajer Mighani |
Money spent: Rs 4.2 crores
Strengths: Very strong raiding department. Having already retained Maninder Singh and Nabibakhsh, the addition of Hedge and Devadiga adds great variety.
Weaknesses: Not many, but the cover defence could be an area of concern.
Bengaluru Bulls
Bengaluru Bulls squad
| Defenders | All-Rounders | Raiders |
|---|---|---|
| Saurabh Nandal | Banty | |
| Mohit Sehrawat | Pawan Kumar Sehrawat | |
| Amit Sheoran | Dong Geon Lee | |
| Ziaur Rahman | Abolfazl Maghsodlou | |
| Mahender Singh | Chandran Ranjit | |
| Mayur Jagannath Kadam | GB More | |
| Ankit | Deepak Narwal | |
| Vikas |
Money Spent: 4.05 crores
Strength: Raiding department is very strong and they can rival any team on that front. In More, Narwal, Ranjit, there is solid support for Sehrawat. Also, the Bulls have managed to retain many players from last season, so there should be a good understanding in the team.
Weaknesses: The defence lacks a bit in terms of experience and the youngsters will have to take step up.
Dabang Delhi
Dabang Delhi squad
| Defenders | All-Rounders | Raiders |
|---|---|---|
| Sumit | Balram | Neeraj Narwal |
| Mohit | Vijay | Naveen Kumar |
| Mohammad Malak | Sandeep Narwal | Emad Sedaghat Nia |
| Joginder Narwal | Manjeet Chhillar | Ajay Thakur |
| Jeeva Kumar | Sushant Sail | |
| Vikas |
Money Spent: 3.98 crores
Strengths: Plenty of experience, especially in defence. The Thakur-Naveen combination looks promising. Naveen can allow Thakur to take fewer risks and stay on the mat. Thakur’s presence will ease pressure on Naveen.
Weaknesses: While experience is great, players like Manjeet Chhillar and Sandeep Narwal haven’t been at their best in recent seasons.
Gujarat Giants
Gujarat Giants squad
| Defenders | All-Rounders | Raiders |
|---|---|---|
| Sumit | Hadi Oshtorak | Harmanjit Singh |
| Ankit | Sonu | |
| Sunil Kumar | Mahendra Rajput | |
| Parvesh Bhainswal | Rathan K | |
| Soleiman Pahlevani | Maninder Singh | |
| Ravinder Pahal | Harshit Yadav | |
| Girish Ernak | Pardeep Kumar | |
| Ajay Kumar |
Money Spent: 4.06 crores
Strengths: Strong defence with quality players in all key roles. A coach who can get the best out of youngsters.
Weaknesses: No proven raider. Rajput and Ashish Kumar are talented but haven’t delivered on the promise yet.
Haryana Steelers
Haryana Steelers squad
| Defenders | All-Rounders | Raiders |
|---|---|---|
| Chand Singh | Hamid Mirzaei Nader | Vikas Chhillar |
| Ravi Kumar | Rohit Gulia | Vinay |
| Surender Nada | Vikas Jaglan | Vikash Khandola |
| Rajesh Gurjar | Rajesh Narwal | Mohammad Maghsodlou |
| Brijendra Singh Chaudhary |
Money Spent: Rs 3.83 crores
Strengths: With Nada, Ravi Kumar and Rajesh Narwal, defence looks quite decent. The trio also bring in loads of experience. Khandola is one of the finest raiders in the league.
Weaknesses: Lack of support for Khandola. Unproven players in key positions.
Jaipur Pink Panthers
Jaipur Pink Panthers
| Defenders | All-Rounder | Raider |
|---|---|---|
| Elavarasan A | Sachin Narwal | Sushil Gulia |
| Pavan TR | Nitin Rawal | Mohammad Amin Nosrati |
| Vishal | Deepak Niwas Hooda | Amir Hossain Mohammedmaleki |
| Amit Hooda | Naveen | |
| Sandeep Dhull | Arjun Deshwal | |
| Dharmaraj Cheralathan | Ashok | |
| Sumit | Amit Nagar |
Money Spent: Rs 4.22 crores
Strengths: Good squad balance. Quality all-rounders in Rawal and Deepak Hooda gives coach flexibility.
Weaknesses: Young raiding department. The likes of Arjun Deshwal and Naveen have shown promise but they will have to take more responsibility or there will be too much pressure on Deepak Hooda.
Patna Pirates
Patna Pirates squad
| Defenders | All-Rounders | Raiders |
|---|---|---|
| Neeraj Kumar | Sahil Mann | Rajveersinh Pratap Rao Chavan |
| Sunil | Mohammadreza Chiyaneh | Mohit |
| Sourav Gulia | Monu | |
| Sandeep | Jang Kun Lee | |
| Shubham Shinde | Prashanth Kumar Rai | |
| Sachin | ||
| Guman Singh | ||
| Monu Goyat |
Money Spent: Rs 3.87 crores
Strengths: Depth in the raiding department and plenty of variety in the raiding ranks.
Weaknesses: Defence seems weak both in quality and quantity. The Pirates have only five specialist defenders.
Puneri Paltan
Puneri Paltan squad
| Defender | All-Rounder | Raiders |
|---|---|---|
| Sanket Sawant | Govind Gurjar | Pankaj Mohite |
| Balasaheb Shahaji Jadhav | Victor Obiero | Pawan Kumar Kadian |
| Hadi Tajik | E Subhash | Mohit Goyat |
| Vishal Bhardwaj | Rahul Chaudhari | |
| Baldev Singh | Nitin Tomar | |
| Sombir | Vishwas S | |
| Karambir | ||
| Abhinesh Nadarajan | ||
| Sourav Kumar |
Money Spent: Rs 4.03 crores
Strengths: Raiding department looks very strong with good mix of youth and experience. Pune have two quality corner defenders and have plenty of option for cover areas.
Weaknesses: Rahul Chaudhari and Nitin Tomar have struggled in recent seasons. With their place in the team far from guaranteed, coach Anup Kumar will have to manage their egos in case they are not picked.
Tamil Thalaivas
Tamil Thalaivas squad
| Defender | All-Rounder | Raider |
|---|---|---|
| Sagar | Anwar Saheed Baba | K Prapanjan |
| M Abhishek | Sourabh Tanaji Patil | Manjeet |
| Himanshu | Sagar B Krishna | Bhavani Rajput |
| Mohammad Tuhin Tarafder | Santhapanaselvam | Ajinkya Ashok Pawar |
| Surjeet Singh | Athul MS | |
| Sahil |
Money Spent: 3.86 crores
Strengths: In Surjeet Singh, Tamil Thalaivas have the best cover defender in kabaddi. Young raiders Prapanjan and Manjeet had top seasons and could forge a good combination.
Weaknesses: Inexperienced defence could leave Surjeet Singh with a lot to do. The raiding department beyond the top two raiders doesn’t inspire confidence.
Telugu Titans
Telugu Titans squad
| Defenders | All-Rounders | Raiders |
|---|---|---|
| Akash Dattu Arsul | Ankit Beniwal | |
| Akash Choudhary | Rajnish | |
| Manish | Rakesh Gowda | |
| Prince | Hyunsu Park | |
| Abe Tetsuro | Siddharth Desai | |
| Surender Singh | Rohit Kumar | |
| Sandeep Kandola | G Raju | |
| Ruturaj Koravi | Amit Chauhan | |
| Adarsh T | ||
| C Arun |
Money Spent: 4.22 crores
Strengths: Raiding department looks strong with Desai, Rohit Kumar and Rajnish. Rohit Kumar has proven to be a really smart leader and the Titans would benefit from his presence. Corner defence looks good with Sandeep Kandola and Ruturaj Koravi.
Weaknesses: Cover defence could be a weakness. Surender Singh is a good defender but has the reputation of being slightly rash at times. He will have to cut down errors especially when playing with more inexperienced players in defence.
U Mumba
U Mumba squad
| Defenders | All-Rounders | Raiders |
|---|---|---|
| Harendra Kumar | Ajinkya Kapre | Navneet |
| Fazel Atrachali | Mohsen Maghsoudlou Jafari | Abhishek Singh |
| Rinku | Pankaj | Ajith V Kumar |
| Sunil Sidhagavli | Ashish Kumar Sangwan | Jashandeep Singh |
| Ajeet | Rahul Rana |
Money Spent: Rs 3.77 crores
Strengths: A top defender and captain Fazel Atrachali and a good battery of all-rounders.
Weaknesses: The defence and raiding department though seems a bit lacking in depth. There will be a lot of pressure on the likes of Atrachali and Abhishek Singh. Too much onus on the all-rounders to come good.
UP Yoddha
UP Yoddha squad
| Defenders | All-Rounders | Raiders |
|---|---|---|
| Ashu Singh | Nitin Panwar | Surender Gill |
| Sumit | Gurdeep | Mohammad Taghi |
| Nitesh Kumar | Md Masud Karim | |
| Gaurav Kumar | Pardeep Narwal | |
| Aashish Nagar | Shrikanth Jadhav | |
| Sahil | ||
| Gulveer Singh | ||
| Ankit |
Money Spent: Rs 4.12 crores
Strengths: Pardeep Narwal. Apart from the star signing, UP have done really well to forge a strong support cast. With Shrikanth Jadhav, Surender Gill and Mohammad Taghi, the raiding department looks very strong.
Weaknesses: The defence appears slightly weak and there are too many unproven names. The onus will be on Nitesh Kumar and Sumit to lead the defensive unit.