The player auction for the sixth season of the Pro Kabaddi league will be held on Wednesday and Thursday in Mumbai, with as many as 422 players up for grabs.

Out of the 422, 58 are overseas players from countries such as Iran, Bangladesh, Japan, Kenya, South Korea, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. Another 87 players are from the Future Kabaddi Heroes programme, which is a nationwide talent scouting programme for athletes aged 18-22.

Of the 12 Pro Kabaddi franchises, nine have chosen to retain players from the previous season, while the remaining three will build their teams from scratch. A total of 21 players from season 5 were retained by their respective franchises.

There are four base-price categories for players: Rs 20 lakh, Rs 12 lakh, Rs 8 lakh, and Rs 5 lakh. Players picked from the Future Kabaddi Heroes programme will have a fixed salary of Rs 6.6 lakh. This year, the Rs 1 crore barrier could be breached considering how player values have shot up from season to season.

Last season, Nitin Tomar became the costliest player in the history of Pro Kabaddi league after new entrants UP Yoddha bought him for Rs 93 lakh. In season 4, Mohit Chillar was the costliest player as Bengaluru Bulls purchased him for Rs 53 lakh.

A franchise can pick anywhere between 18-25 players for the season, including a minimum of two and a maximum of four overseas players and up to three from the Future Kabaddi Heroes programme. The total salary purse available to each franchise is Rs 4 crore.

‘Final Bid Match’

For the 2018 auction, the league has introduced the concept of a “Final Bid Match”, similar to the Indian Premier League’s “Right To Match” card, whereby the franchises can match the final bid made by another team for one or at most two players from its squad from the previous season.

If a team has four Elite Retained Players, it can use one “Final Bid Match” option in the open auction. If a team has chosen to retain less than four players, it can exercise two “Final Bid Match” cards.

This year, the Pro Kabaddi player auction will also have a “Bid-o-Meter” for television viewers. The Bid-o-Meter is a a graphical representation, similar to a speedometer, with three distinct ranges: Steal, Fair, and Ambitious.

While a bid for a player is active, the needle of the Bid-o-Meter will move along the range according to the current bid price till it settles on the final bid. The Bid-o-Meter uses an “analytical algorithm to determine the fair price range for only ‘Category A Domestic Players’ who will be part of the auction process”, according to a press release.

The parameters considered by the algorithm to determine the fair price range of a player are: 75% weightage for the player’s performance from season 5, and 25% from season 4.

The sixth season of Pro Kabaddi will begin on October 19 and go on for 13 weeks.