Pro Kabaddi Auctions: Arjun Deshwal the most expensive player on final day as big names go unsold

Young raider Arjun Deshwal was the most expensive player on the final day of Pro Kabaddi auctions as teams completed their rosters ahead of the new season.

The Services raider who played the last two seasons for U Mumba will now turn out for the Jaipur Pink Panthers who acquired his services for Rs 96 lakhs making him the third most expensive player in this auction.

Nitin Tomar received the second-highest bid of the day as he reunited with Puneri Paltan who signed him for Rs 61 lakh. However, a key highlight of the day was the bidding war for Sandeep Kandola, a player making a return to Pro Kabaddi after five seasons, which was won by his former team Telugu Titans who signed the corner defender for Rs 59.5 lakhs.

Kandola was the second-highest scoring defender in the second season of Pro Kabaddi but has missed the last five campaigns for reasons unknown. Brijendra Singh Chaudhary was the other Category C player who attracted a high bid of Rs 55 lakhs as he joined the Haryana Steelers.

Former Indian captain Ajay Thakur was picked up by Dabang Delhi who signed him for a relatively low fee of Rs 46 lakhs, but it was a nervy day for some of his fellow veterans. Manjeet Chhillar, Rishank Devadiga, Girish Ernak, all big names in Indian kabaddi went unsold in the first round only to be snapped up for their base price when they were brought back to the auction table.

However, other big names like Mohit Chhillar, Rann Singh and Vishal Mane all went unsold.

Surender Nada another famed defender was only picked up at base price by former team Haryana Steelers who had released him pre-auction. His former U Mumba teammate Jeeva Kumar though attracted multiple interests before being picked up by Dabang Delhi for Rs 44 lakhs.

Over Rs 45 crores were spent by teams among themselves in the auctions. Jaipur Pink Panthers and Telugu Titans were the biggest spenders while U Mumba spent the lowest on their team.

The eighth season of Pro Kabaddi is expected to be held in December 2021. The exact dates of the season will be announced at a later date.