Pro Kabaddi season 5 auction sees teams spend Rs 47 crore

Total Rs 3.95 crore spend on acquiring top-5 Indian players, Rs 2.16 crore on foreign players

VIVO Pro Kabaddi that concluded its two-day player auction on Tuesday in the national capital saw 12 teams spend a total of Rs 46.99 crores to acquire 227 players. 

Star raiders Nitin Tomar (Rs 93 lakh), Rohit Kumar (Rs 81 lakh) and all-rounder Manjeet Chillar (Rs 75.5 lakh) were the top buys in the auction, picked by Team UP, Bengaluru Bulls and Jaipur Pink Panthers, respectively. 

Jang Kun Lee, retained by Bengal Warriors, is the highest valued international player, at Rs 80.3 lakh.

The teams spent a total of Rs 3.95 crore on acquiring the top five Indian players and another Rs 2.16 crore (including Lee) on acquiring foreign players. While Day 1 was dominated by Category-A stars, Day 2 witnessed the franchises finding the perfect balance between experienced and young players. 

On Day 2 of the auction, Indian players from the remaining categories went under the hammer. Suraj Desai secured the highest bid on Day 2 by Dabang Delhi KC for Rs 52.50 lacs. New entrants also attracted interest of the franchisees on the second day. Sachin, a bronze medallist in the junior national championships, was picked by Team Gujarat for Rs 36 lacs.

Anupam Goswami, league commissioner, VIVO Pro Kabaddi said, “With four new teams coming on board, we embarked upon a new journey with the biggest Kabaddi auction in history.”

Nitin Tomar going for an unprecedented INR 93 lacs is a testament to this enormous scale. This year, the stakes are higher than ever before. Franchises were prepared with strategic game plans, and were seen bidding fiercely to build robust teams. Every squad has a good mix of domestic, overseas and new young players. I want to congratulate Nitin Tomar for making history, and also wish every drafted player all the best for the biggest season of the league.”