Pro Kabaddi League: Here's a snapshot of what to expect from auction

As the 12 franchises gear up for the sixth season of Pro Kabaddi league, all energies will be focussed on the player auction that takes place on May 30 and 31. This year, 422 players will going under the hammer, and the teams will each have Rs 40 million at their disposal. Here’s a snapshot of what to expect from the process.

A total of 422 players will be drafted into the auction pool of which 58 are overseas players and 87 are players from the Future Kabaddi Heroes Programme (FKH), a nationwide talent scouting programme. Each team can have 18-25 players. This includes up to three players from the FKH, and between two and four overseas players. 

The two-day auction will mark the first event for Season 6, with the franchises coming together to build their teams. Out of the 12 franchises, 9 have chosen their Elite Retained Players and the remaining 3 will construct their teams from scratch.

The League has introduced the concept of “Final Bid Match”, whereby the franchises shall be entitled to match the final bid made by another franchise, for one or at most two players from its Season V squad. This is similar to the Right to match feature in the Indian Premier League player auctions.

The broadcast of the auction will introduce a new packaging feature called ‘bid-o-meter’. It is a graphical representation, similar to a speed-o-meter with three distinct ranges (Steal| Fair| Ambitious) for television only. 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, this is done through a backend algorithm.